Notes from a policy roundtable on DPPs

Yesterday in Brussels, we took part in a high-level exchange on “Digital Product Passports: the golden thread through textile recycling?”, organised by PESCO-UP and CEPS. The discussion explored how DPPs could transform the textile industry by closing the information gap between production and end-of-life.

A red thread ran through the conversations: there is a clear need for standardization, and this is much easier said than done.

Jan Merckx from GS1 Nederland described a thought-provoking scenario where the same set of standards was adopted in unison and we could move forward in the best possible way, well aligned semantically and with systems that were very interoperable. The only catch is the textile world would need to stop, briefly, to make this change. Since this is not feasible, the ongoing standardization is very important, and it must be done with strong connections to market needs, policy developments, and in collaboration across the multiple groups working on standards.

We agree and look forward to contributing to this work from PESCO-UP, SAGE, and AUTOLOOP projects.