Operationalizing Upgrade Circular Economy: Concept for Application and Implementation of Event-Based Integrated Digital Product Passports in Manufacturing Companies

Circular Economy (CE) has a low implementation rate so far, despite its many environmental and economic benefits. The concept of Upgrade Circular Economy (UCE) aims to address the existing challenges by aiming for a more continuous value enhancement of circular products and an industrialization of the associated processes. Digital Product Passports (DPP) are a key component of the concept as they act as a data hub for the circular value network. However, their prevalence in industrial practice is low. The aim of this work is to extend a concept for the integration of DPPs into the existing system landscape of manufacturing companies to advance the implementation rate. The core aspects of the work are the derivation of new use cases and data requirements that arise in an UCE, the formulation of evaluation options and implementation recommendations for the DPP, as well as examples for the concrete implementation of event technology. The aim is to provide manufacturing companies with practical options for the use of DPPs as a basis for the implementation of UCE.