Circularise recently launched a project with Porsche and its material suppliers, Borealis, Covestro and Domo Chemicals, to enable the traceability of plastics on blockchain.
Collaboration aims to enable automotive plastics traceability
The project also aims to ensure the use of sustainable materials in Porsche cars can be proven. By digitising materials Circularise was able to create a digital thread through the whole supply chain, enabling material traceability and other sustainability metrics.
Getting information from supply chains has always been a challenge due their complexity and number of suppliers, amongst other issues. Blockchain is therefore a fitting solution to transparency challenges.
Antoon Versteeg, Project Lead Innovation Research at Porsche, said: “We need to know more details on the parts and materials being used in our products, that means information on production processes deep down the supply chain, statements of recycled content and more. With the help of Circularise, as well as with the help of their partners, we were able to trace for a number of specific cases plastics from raw material production to the final car.”
A number of suppliers who can deliver sustainably produced materials for the automotive industry were involved in this project. Each batch of material was digitised on the blockchain, receiving a digital copy called a digital twin, which carries all relevant information such as its environmental footprint and origin. This digital thread created transparency between project partners, leading to an improved supply chain collaboration.
Thomas Nuyts, Director of Global Product Management at Domo Chemicals, added: “We at Domo can only gain by making the supply chain more transparent. By tracking our materials, we will make a huge step ahead in supporting the automotive industry in its sustainability challenges.”
Christopher McArdle, Borealis Vice President Polyolefin Strategy and New Business Development, added: “Verification is essential. Even with a supply chain involving blockchains we want independent auditors for our system. And this is how we gain the trust and confidence of all our value chain members. Several years from now, after these systems are in place on a wider scale, things will have been standardised. For now, it’s still early days. Auditors and certifications are essential to ensure that no one can engage in greenwashing. But we really need to pick up the pace as we keep moving towards more circularity.”
Once the materials are digitised, the supply chain can update the digital twin. Due to Circularise’s Smart Questioning technology, this process can happen while preserving privacy and protecting confidential information.
Burkhard Zimmermann, Head of Resin, Digital Transformation and Sustainability at Covestro, concluded: “For us, it is really important to share information and be more transparent while maintaining confidentiality. For instance, the material composition is of competitive advantage so we would never share that openly. Here, Circularise helps us to maintain this confidentiality and only disclose the information needed from raw material producer to recycler. And with that, we can close the loop.”
This approach helps car manufacturers to make better decisions for the next generations of vehicles. Ultimately reducing the environmental impact across the whole value chain.