Boosting Sustainability Through Practical Digital Product Passports

ST. PÖLTEN, Austria, Jan. 7, 2025 — The St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences is investigating the implementation and sustainability impacts of digital product passports across various projects focusing on plastics, electronics, and food.

Digital product passports provide the data foundation for a sustainable circular economy by enabling end-to-end product tracking throughout the supply chain. This enhances product safety, streamlines production, and minimizes negative environmental effects.

“Effective integration and management of environmental data regarding a product’s raw materials, composition, and manufacturing is crucial for building a circular economy and the associated business models,” says Tassilo Pellegrini, Co-Head of the St. Pölten UAS’ Institute for Innovation Systems, which is conducting this research.

Sustainable Business Model for the Electronics Industry
In the ECO-TCO project, for instance, Pellegrini is examining how data from a digital product passport could support circular, eco-friendly electronic products and facilitate life-cycle cost comparisons between different product variations.

Improving Plastics Recycling
The St. Pölten UAS’s DPP4PLASTICS study explores the technical, legal, and organizational implications of a digital product passport for plastics producers and processors.

To foster the transition to a sustainable circular economy, disposal and waste processing firms require precise details on the type and composition of synthetic materials. This ensures high-quality recycled plastics waste capable of competing with virgin materials.

Digital Product Passport for the Soybean
Furthermore, the St. Pölten UAS is leading a research project developing a digital product passport prototype for food supply chains, using soybeans as a case study.

“Several obstacles hinder the practical implementation of a digital product passport. The complexity of supply chains is a major challenge, as is ensuring communication between diverse technical systems and organizations,” explains project manager Alexandra Anderluh from the Carl Ritter von Ghega Institute for Integrated Mobility Research at the St. Pölten UAS.

Project ECO-TCO
This project is funded by the FFG under the “Digital Technologies 2023” program. Partners include Siemens AG Austria and the law firm “Höhne, In der Maur & Partner”.

Project DPP4PLASTICS
This project also receives funding from the FFG under the “Digital Technologies 2023” program. Partners include Transfercenter für Kunststofftechnik GmbH and the law firm “Höhne, In der Maur & Partner”.

Project DPP4FOOD – Digital Product Passport for the Food Industry
This project is funded by the Lower Austrian Gesellschaft für Forschungsförderung (GFF). Project partners are Sojarei Vollwertkost GmbH, Bio Agrar Service, Biogast, and FH Campus Wien.

Project DPP4ALL
The completed research project DPP4ALL, conducted by the St. Pölten UAS’ Institute for Innovation Systems, investigated the technical, legal, and organizational prerequisites for a digital product passport. The project was funded by the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK).

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