Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development
Industry: Textile, digital product passport with data platform TRICK
The first data on traceability and circularity in the fashion industry, crucial for the introduction of the Digital Product Passport[1] required by European legislation, has been provided the data collection platform "TRICK [2]". Created by a consortium of 31 partners, including ENEA, the TRICK platform offers an innovative tool to track -through the use of blockchain technology - the whole lifespan of a garment, from raw material to end of life. The objective is to support SMEs in collecting secured data for products and services, assessing their environmental footprint (PEF), quality of production processes, health and circularity of raw materials used. ENEA created an ‘holistic’ data model[3] at the basis of the platform, defining how traceability and sustainability data should be collected, connected and organized to return aggregated product information.
The tracking system and various software components developed have already been tested on two supply chains: traditional textiles and technical textiles related to workwear (uniforms, workwear resistant to heat, flame, fireproof and antistatic fabrics).
“Currently the fashion industry lacks solutions to handle such large volumes of data while there is abundance of proprietary traceability platforms imposed on suppliers, forced to adapt their IT systems to make them able to interface with the platform adopted by each brand,” explained Gessica Ciaccio, researcher at the ENEA Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources Department. “The cost of this procedure burdens smaller companies in particular, while with the TRICK platform approach and its public standard data model, allow to cut compliance costs,” Ciaccio said. “Hence the initiative developed in collaboration with the Ente Italiano di Normazione (UNI) and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). To guarantee reliability and non-modifiability of the information collected along the supply chain, the role of blockchain is also crucial. A matter very close to the hearts of companies,” Ciaccio concludes.
During the pilot phase of the project, ENEA also conducted studies to assess the environmental footprint of two products, the so-called PEF (Product Environmental Footprint): a high-quality wool coat and a work uniform made of viscose and meta-aramid, a heat- and flame-resistant material. The studies involved the entire production chain (fiber production, yarn, fabrics, packaging, distribution, and end-of-life) to collect data on energy consumption, materials, water, emissions and waste generation. “We succeded in identifying the critical points from the environmental point of view related to the garment life cycle, enabling the companies involved in the test to plan improvement actions along the entire supply chain,” said Valentina Fantin, researcher at the ENEA Sustainability, Circularity and Climate Change Adaptation of Production and Territorial Systems Department.
The results of the project were presented to industry stakeholders at the second “From EU Research to Sustainable Circular Supply Chains” conference [4] organized by Ecosystex[5], the European network dealing with circularity and sustainability in textiles. The event, which also touched on the issue of integrating the platform with business and customs systems, was an opportunity to explore how TRICK can support companies in the implementation of the Digital Product Passport and regulations in the process of being defined.
“The conference was a key opportunity for discussion to understand how to move to more sustainable and circular production systems, addressing the challenges to implement traceability systems throughout the currently fragmented and poorly digitized supply chain, define data collection standards, ensure confidentiality, data accountability and market surveillance,” the two ENEA researchers concluded.
For more information please contact:
Gessica Ciaccio, Cross Technologies Laboratory for Urban and Industrial Districts of the ENEA Department of Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources -
Valentina Fantin, Tools for Sustainability and Circularity of Productive and Territorial Systems Laboratory of the ENEA Department of Sustainability, Circularity and Adaptation to Climate Change of Productive and Territorial Systems -
Notes
[1] As part of the European Union Green Deal and the Ecodesign Regulation for Sustainable Products (ESPR), the EU has stipulated that by 2030 every textile product sold within its borders must have a digital passport, i.e., it must be associated via QR with a digital register that includes complete information about the product, from production to disposal/recycling
[2] TRICK - Empower Circular Economy with Blockchain Data Traceability
[3] The model conforms to existing methods and standards (UNECE methodology and GS1 EPCIS event model) and is based on a massive extension of the CEN CWA eBIZ specification
[4] https://textile-platform.eu/news/registrations-are-now-open-for-the-second-ecosystex-conference