Towards a Digital Lifecycle Passport for the Circular Economy

TLDR

The Circular Economy seeks to close material loops and reduce waste, yet essential product data are often missing, leaving recyclers, producers, and customers without key information about materials, recyclability, and environmental impact. This paper proposes a Digital Lifecycle Passport (DLCP) that can be written and read by all stakeholders throughout the product lifecycle. Built on Industrie 4.0’s Asset Administration Shell, the DLCP is machine‑ and human‑readable and is managed via a cloud‑based SaaS application. A use case shows that the DLCP improves the sorting of electronic waste.

Abstract

The Circular Economy approach aims to close the loop of materials and to reduce waste. However, relevant product data for the optimization and management of circular approaches are often missing. Stakeholders typically lack key information: Recyclers do not know which materials/compounds to expect, producers do not know enough about the recyclability of their products, and customers do not have enough information about the environmental impact of their purchases. As a solution, this paper proposes a Digital Lifecycle Passport (DLCP) that can be written and read by various stakeholders along the full product lifecycle. Based on Plattform Industrie 4.0's Asset Administration Shell, the DLCP is readable for both humans and machines. A cloud-based app (SaaS) enables all stakeholders to create and manage DLCPs. As a use case, it is demonstrated how the DLCP can improve the sorting process of electronic waste.