Ahead of the deployment of digital product passports for batteries (2027) and electronics (2030), the CE-RISE project highlights the importance of testing circular solutions in practice.
Digital Product Passport (DPP) will be a game changer for Europe and its industries. As a standardised unique digital record of a product, mandated by the European Union to provide comprehensive information about a product’s life cycle, it is meant to increase transparency, promote a circular economy and streamline regulatory compliance. It will contain data on a product’s origin, conformity, materials, environmental performance, and be accessed through data carriers like QR codes.
The CE-RISE project, an EU-funded project aiming to optimise raw material reuse and recovery in electronic products, is working on the creation of an “Information System” that will structure all this information and make it easily accessible, consistent and interoperable for the future use of DPPs. The first version is expected to be operational by January 2026, combining the work of 28 partners from 11 European countries.
CE-RISE Project Pilots
To test the theoretical work in practice CE-RISE is running five pilots, focussing on the following products: printers, batteries, large HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) equipment, ICT equipment and PV modules.
CE-RISE project partner Lexmark, now part of Xerox, is taking part in the pilots and is testing how the DPP can support their operations at their Circular Economy Hub in Poland where collected printers and cartridges are brought from all over Europe for remanufacturing and refurbishment. See how this looks in practice here:
Lexmark considers the DPP highly important as it emphasises their circular economy commitment, while meeting the needs of ESG-conscious buyers. Says Maxime Furkel (Lexmark EMEA): “While we consider the need for harmonisation as being critical EU-wide and globally, we think that companies should be given the entrepreneurial flexibility and freedom to continue investing in their own End-of-Life approaches. This will bring forward the best ideas to boost remanufacturing. With Lexmark now being part of Xerox, we will continue to drive innovative circular economy concepts – with even more scale, resources and expertise.”
Jahanzeb Tariq (Viessmann Climate Solutions) working on the case of large HVAC equipment, highlights the role the project plays in forming Europe’s digital landscape: “Circularity demands concrete digitalisation as a backbone to enable the flow of valuable information between upstream and downstream value chain partners and to implement 5R strategies. CE-RISE proposes that infrastructure to streamline communication and help implement circular business models and product design.”
“Through the five pilot cases, CE-RISE is demonstrating how interoperable product data can be exchanged across value chain actors to make circular practices truly effective. By testing Digital Product Passports in real industrial settings, we aim to show that data-driven approaches can support and enhance waste reduction, increase the recovery and use of secondary materials, and make RE-strategies such as repair, remanufacturing, and high-quality recycling more impactful and efficient” summarises Vera Susanne Rotter (TU Berlin) leading on these case studies.
Promoting a Global (Circular) Approach
During the project’s most recent event at the World Resources Forum Conference’25 in Geneva, invited experts highlighted the equal importance of regulatory alignment with third-country suppliers. They emphasised that, although Europe has many exemplary practices and funded projects developing circular solutions, there is a growing need for a global approach to enable cross-border data flows and harmonise legal frameworks.
Cristina Guerreiro (NILU), CE-RISE project coordinator underlined: “The introduction of DPPs represents an incredible opportunity to enable more sustainable and circular products and value chains in Europe and globally. CE-RISE is developing tools to support this transition in Europe, and harmonising our efforts with the global economic landscape should follow!”