The tire industry, while essential for mobility, faces significant challenges related to sustainability, resource management, and end-of-life tire disposal. In a groundbreaking effort to address these issues, the CIRPASS-2 pilot project is exploring the implementation of a Digital Product Passport (DPP) for tires. This initiative aims to revolutionize the tire circular economy by providing a platform for collecting, sharing, and utilizing valuable information throughout a tire’s lifecycle. This post will delve into the details of the CIRPASS-2 pilot project, its objectives, and the potential benefits it offers for various stakeholders in the tire industry.
Understanding the Need for a Tire Digital Product Passport
The traditional tire industry operates with limited transparency regarding the full lifecycle of a tire. Information about a tire’s origin, manufacturing process, usage, and end-of-life treatment is often fragmented and difficult to track. This lack of visibility hinders efforts to promote circularity and sustainable practices.
The Digital Product Passport (DPP) seeks to address this problem by creating a digital record for each tire, which can be accessed and updated throughout its lifecycle. The DPP can provide a variety of information, including:
Origin and Manufacturing Details: Where and how the tire was produced, materials used, and any specific manufacturing processes.
Performance Data: Information about the tire’s performance characteristics, such as rolling resistance, wet grip, and wear rate.
Retreading and Repair History: A record of any retreading or repair work done on the tire.
End-of-Life Treatment: Details on how the tire was collected, recycled, or disposed of.
Sustainability Information: Data on the environmental impact of the tire throughout its life cycle.
By making this information readily available, the DPP empowers stakeholders to make more informed decisions and promotes a more circular and sustainable tire industry.
The CIRPASS-2 Pilot Project: A Collaborative Effort
The CIRPASS-2 pilot project is a collaborative initiative bringing together 12 companies and associations from three European countries. These partners represent various sectors of the tire industry, including:
Tire Manufacturers: Companies that produce new tires.
Retreaders: Businesses that specialize in retreading used tires.
End-of-Life Tire Collectors and Recyclers: Companies that collect and process used tires for recycling or disposal.
Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs): Entities that manage the collection and recycling of used tires.
Digital Product Passport Enablers: Companies that provide digital identity solutions, data space governance, and other enabling technologies.
This diverse group of stakeholders is working together to develop and implement a DPP for tires, testing the system in real-world settings and ensuring its interoperability.
Objectives of the CIRPASS-2 Pilot Project
The CIRPASS-2 pilot project aims to achieve several key objectives:
Accelerate Tire Circularity: By providing greater transparency and access to information, the DPP will facilitate the reuse, retreading, and recycling of tires, reducing the need for new resources and minimizing waste.
Increase Retreaded Tires: The DPP aims to increase the percentage of truck tires being retreaded by making it easier to identify suitable casings and track their history.
Enhance Material Recovery: The DPP will support the efficient collection and processing of end-of-life tires, ensuring that valuable materials are recovered and reused in new products.
Improve Transparency: By making data about tire performance and sustainability readily available, the DPP will empower consumers and businesses to make more informed choices.
Develop a Standardized and Interoperable Solution: The pilot project seeks to develop a DPP solution that is standardized, interoperable, and easily adaptable for different stakeholders in the tire industry.
Technical Foundations of the Tire DPP
The technical framework of the tire DPP relies on several key elements:
GS1 Identifiers: These unique identifiers will be used to identify individual tires and link them to their digital records.
ISO Standards of RFID Technology for Tires: Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology will be used to enable automated identification and tracking of tires throughout their lifecycle.
GDSO Services: The project utilizes GDSO services, which are data management services supporting tire-related data exchange.
Tire Industry Data Space: A secure data space created in 2022, which allows participants to share data in a standardized manner around connected tires.
These technical components provide the foundation for a reliable and efficient DPP system.
Benefits for Different Stakeholders
The Tire Digital Product Passport offers a variety of benefits for different stakeholders in the tire industry:
Tire Manufacturers:
Improved Product Design: The DPP will provide manufacturers with valuable data on tire performance and lifecycle, enabling them to develop more durable, efficient, and sustainable products.
Enhanced Supply Chain Visibility: Manufacturers can gain better visibility into the movement and lifecycle of their tires, improving inventory management and supply chain efficiency.
Brand Protection: The DPP can help protect manufacturers against counterfeit products and ensure that their tires are used and recycled appropriately.
Retreaders:
Streamlined Operations: The DPP can help retreaders quickly and easily identify suitable tire casings for retreading, improving operational efficiency and productivity.
Expanded Business Opportunities: By making retreaded tires more traceable and reliable, the DPP can open up new business opportunities for retreaders.
Improved Work Conditions: Digitized processes can lead to more attractive workplaces for employees in the retreading industry.
End-of-Life Tire Collectors and Recyclers:
Enhanced Collection and Sorting: The DPP can make it easier to collect and sort end-of-life tires, ensuring that they are processed efficiently and effectively.
Improved Material Recovery: By identifying the materials used in each tire, the DPP can facilitate the recovery of valuable resources for reuse in new products.
End-Users:
Informed Decision-Making: Consumers and businesses can use the DPP to access detailed information about tire performance, durability, and environmental impact, allowing them to make more informed choices.
Access to New Services: The DPP can facilitate the development of new connected services, such as tire-as-a-service models, which offer greater convenience and flexibility.
Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs):
Efficient Management of Used Tires: The DPP enables PROs to track and manage the collection and processing of used tires more effectively, leading to improved compliance and resource management.
The Role of SMEs in the Retreading Sector
The video highlights that retreaders and end-of-life tire collectors are often small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe. The DPP is designed to be an affordable, lean, and interoperable solution that can benefit these SMEs. By accelerating digitization within their operations, the DPP offers potential gains in:
Productivity: Streamlined processes and improved data management can help SMEs increase their efficiency.
Ergonomics: Modernized workflows can make work environments more attractive and ergonomic for employees.
Business Opportunities: The DPP opens up new business opportunities by making old tires eligible for new connected services.
Exploring New Circular Business Models
The CIRPASS-2 project also aims to explore new circular business models that can emerge from the implementation of the DPP. One example mentioned in the video is “tire-as-a-service” offers. This business model could leverage the DPP to provide data on tire usage, performance, and lifecycle, allowing companies to offer tire services based on actual usage rather than simply selling new tires. This kind of model can promote a shift from a linear “take-make-dispose” model to a circular one.
The Path to 2027: Measuring Results and Learning Lessons
The CIRPASS-2 pilot project is scheduled to operate for two years, during which the partners will implement the DPP at scale and in a real-world setting. By 2027, the project aims to have measured the results and learned valuable lessons from this experience. The insights gained from the pilot project will inform the future development and implementation of DPP systems throughout the tire industry.
Conclusion
The CIRPASS-2 pilot project represents a pivotal advancement in the tire industry’s journey towards a circular and sustainable future. The innovative Tire Digital Product Passport (DPP) promises to fundamentally reshape how tires are manufactured, used, and managed at the end of their life. This initiative fosters transparency, encourages collaboration, and drives innovation across the entire value chain, from tire manufacturers to retreaders, recyclers, and end-users.
The DPP isn’t just about data collection; it’s about empowering stakeholders with the information they need to make more informed decisions, adopt responsible practices, and contribute to a more resilient industry. By facilitating greater reuse, retreading, and recycling, this technology moves the sector beyond a linear consumption model and towards a closed-loop system, minimizing waste and conserving resources.
The collaborative effort of the CIRPASS-2 pilot is particularly encouraging, demonstrating the willingness of diverse players to work together towards a common goal. The project’s focus on developing an affordable, lean, and interoperable solution tailored to the needs of small and medium enterprises further underscores its commitment to inclusivity and broad impact. As we move closer to the evaluation point in 2027, the insights and lessons learned from this initiative will undoubtedly provide a roadmap for wider adoption of DPP systems. Ultimately, the Tire Digital Product Passport has the potential to become an essential component in a future where sustainable and responsible tire management is the norm, rather than the exception, and will pave the way for a more environmentally responsible and efficient tire industry. This marks a crucial step towards a truly sustainable circular economy.