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TRICK: traceability for the circular economy and sustainability
TRICK European Project - Traceability with the Blockchain to
promote the circular economy and sustainability in the textile and food industry
Funded by the European Community under the Horizon 2020 framework program, the TRICK project "Empower Circular Economy with Blockchain
data traceability" started last May 2021 with a consortium made up of 29
partners including companies, associations, research centers and
non-profit organizations from 12 European and non-EU countries. The
project, coordinated by Lanificio Fratelli Piacenza Spa, has as its
object the development of a solution, supported by blockchain
technology, at the service of the circular economy for the textile and fashion sector.
In fact, "TRICK" was born with the idea of tracing through the
blockchain the entire path that an item of clothing takes, from the raw
material to the end of life when it is recycled to be transformed back
into raw material.
The project will have a duration of 42 months and
in this time frame a platform for the management of traceability will be
created which will guarantee the sustainability of the processes and the
quality and healthiness of the materials.
Several issues are
addressed by the project: Certification of Preferential Origin (PCO),
assessments relating to the environmental impact of the product (PEF),
consumer protection against the use of dangerous chemicals,
certification of worker protection and anti-counterfeiting requirements.
The Italian Customs is one of the partners participating in the
project, particularly interested in the technology developed by TRICK to
speed up customs processes with preferential origin and for its
anti-counterfeiting activities and fight against Greenwashing, that is
the phenomenon in which the environmental and social sustainability
characteristics of the product are advertised in a fraudulent manner.
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A second important aspect relates to the recovery from the supply
chain of the information necessary to ensure a better reuse of the
product fibers at the end of its life and therefore a higher
circularity. The use of the Blockchain in this context is innovative, as
two blockchains are foreseen, one private and one public: one of the
objectives of the project will be interoperability between Blockchains
aimed at the portability of data from one to the other (which today does
not happen) so that they can be transferred between the different actors
of the supply chain and between different software without losing
reliability.
The pilot project will start in the textile sector
and will subsequently be replicated in the agri-food sector.
ENEA is
involved in the project with the two laboratories TERIN-SEN-CROSS and
SSPT-USER-RISE, responsible for the activities relating to the issues
relating respectively to standards, traceability and interoperability
and to the evaluation of the environmental impact of products and
circular economy.
The involvement of ENEA will guarantee project
continuity with respect to the eBIZ standardization initiative for the
exchange of data in Textile, Clothing and Footwear, which will thus be
strengthened, and specific attention to the UNECE initiative for
traceability for transparent and sustainable Fashion’s supply chains.
In
particular, within the TRICK project an extension of the eBIZ
specifications will be developed in order to support data collection for
traceability and for the objectives of supporting TRICK services
(Certification of preferential origin, circularity, calculation of PEF,
Health of the consumer, ethical and social sustainability and the fight
against counterfeiting). This is an important extension that will add
new application scenarios to the eBIZ specifications allowing for event
and certification management.
More info:
Project Coordinator
ENEA
Contact point
Web and social
A policy brief on the topic of standardization from the TRICK
project
 The first phase of the TRICK project activities ended
last January and 4 policy briefs relating to the first results of the
project were published, including the one with the definition of a
framework based on the UNECE methodology, on the semantic reference
standards (CEN CWA eBIZ, UNECE UN / CEFACT) and on the PEFCR (Product
Environmental Footprint Category Rules) for PEF studies relating to the
environmental impacts of products.
An important implication that
arises from the results of this first phase is the one relating to the
dissemination and adoption of semantic standards and reference
specifications. In fact, one of the objectives of the TRICK project is
to improve the digitization of business processes in the fashion and
food supply chains, through the adoption and use of standards.
In
this context, the TRICK project will contribute to the further
development of the eBIZ specifications, adapting them to the new needs
related to a sustainable and circular approach of the Fashion supply
chains. Once this activity is completed, the results will be presented
to EURATEX (which takes care of their management) and possibly also to
CEN, the European Standardization Committee. A further contribution
could also be made to the UN/CEFACT results currently being tested.
The recommendations for policy actions aimed at allowing the
exploitation of the "Roadmap from linear to circular", main result of
this first phase of the project activities, have been summarized in the
following Policy briefs and related posts on the project website:
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D1.1 Ways to circular value chains - read the
Policy Brief
and
News Post
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D1.2 How will the TRICK platform support policies to promote
circularity on the textile, clothing and food value chains in
Europe? - read the
Policy Brief and
News Post
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D1.3 Establishing legal and technical frameworks for the TRICK
platform towards a circular economy - read the
Policy Brief
and
News Post
- D1.4 How can standards facilitate the setting up and management
of sustainable SMEs supply chains? - read the
Policy Brief
and
News Post
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The fashion industry faces the challenge of the 'EU strategy for
sustainable and circular textiles'
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The European Commission has delivered on March 30th 2022 a
communication about the EU strategy for sustainable and circular
textiles (COM(2022) 141) . It is a strategic statement that outlines
an important and challenging path for the EU manufacturing
industries and markets.Under fire there is a model of
production and consumption that has leaded EU consumption of
textiles accounting for the fourth highest negative impact on the
environment and climate change.
This requires more systemic solutions
because textiles is 'a key product value chain with an urgent need
and a strong potential for the transition to sustainable and
circular production, consumption and business models'. That is we
have pains but also potentials…
What should we expect to be
implemented in the next years, mostly though legislative
actions already planned or on-going, and by setting:
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mandatory
Eco-Design
requirements; on the side of the production, for example
composition, treatments, chemicals…- but also on the side of
usage, for example durability, reparability, fiber-to-fiber
reusability…
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bans of
the destruction of unsold production for large business
players and responsibilities of the producers for the whole
supply chain, up to the
management of the
waste
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reduction
of the micro-plastic
pollution, even from washing: today 40.000 tonnes of
synthetic fibers are released by the only washing machines.
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introducing Digital
Product Passport with mandatory disclosure of
information about circularity and sustainability; voluntary
schemes like Eco-Label and PEF will play a more relevant
role
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fight
against false green claims with severe restriction about the
conditions that allows any kind of green claims.
The PEF approach is thought as a method for
implementing such strategy
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extended
producer responsibility
with eco-modulation of the fees; it will require a full
traceability of the production processes and their impacts
as well as designing the reuse of the product after its end
of life
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other
legislative provisions,
addressing Green Public Procurement, revision of the
Ecolabel, improvement of market surveillance, revision of
the Fiber Regulation, etc.
Introducing Digital Product Passport with
mandatory disclosure of information about circularity and
sustainability; voluntary schemes like Eco-Label and PEF
will play a more relevant role fight against false green
claims with severe restriction about the conditions that
allows any kind of green claims. The PEF approach is thought
as a method for implementing such strategy extended producer
responsibility with eco-modulation of the fees; it will
require a full traceability of the production processes and
their impacts as well as designing the reuse of the product
after its end of life other legislative provisions,
addressing Green Public Procurement, revision of the
Ecolabel, improvement of market surveillance, revision of
the Fiber Regulation, etc..
There will be an effort
on trading regulations (by preventing importation of
non-compliant products) and by looking for a new paradigm
for fast changing fashion trends: the sentence 'Driving fast
fashion out of fashion' represents the sentiment of the
Commission about the future of this segment of the fashion
production. This objective will be pursued gradually but
with decision: the Communication has an annexed
implementation calendar with dates that do not go beyond
2024.
It is a strong challenge that will address both
the higher market segments (with high margins) as well as
the lowest segments (with higher volumes and lower margins)
and digital technologies will play a very relevant role by
turning everything in the supply chains ‘under the control’
with traceability but also by implementing new production
and business models.
Read the whole article.
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News ... Save the date!
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10 June 2022 – The Clusters organize a Traceability Table on the
European strategy for textiles
The Traceability table of the National Cluster of Made in Italy, in
collaboration with the Regional Cluster of Creative Cultural Industries
of Emilia-Romagna, organizes a meeting on the European strategy for
sustainable circular textiles. The issues relating to the implications
for the sector of this strategy and the application of the Digital
Product Passport will be presented and discussed at the meeting to be
held from 2.30 to 5.00 pm.
Further details on the event will be
available shortly on the websites:
16 September 2022 – A table on Certification of preferential origin,
international logistics and the role of traceability technologies
Traceability in international supply chains is an enabler of many of
the objectives that the Fashion sector is setting itself. The
Traceability table of the Made in Italy National Cluster organizes a
meeting with the focus on the system of certification of preferential
origin, sustainability and implications in terms of traceability and
international logistics with the use of Blockchain.
The meeting
will take place on September 16th afternoon, from 2.30 to 5.00 pm, and
will report different approaches to the problem including that of the
TRICK project.
Further details on the event will be available in the
coming weeks on the Cluster website:
https://www.clusterminit.it/eventi/
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eBIZ CONTACTS
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MEDIA AND SOCIAL
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DISCLOSURE
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eBIZ promotion
Mauro Scalia, EURATEX
T: +32 2 285 48 91
Email:
mauro.scalia@ euratex.eu
eBIZ technical coordination
Piero De Sabbata, ENEA
T:+39 051 6098 322, +39 329 860 3672
Email: piero.desabbata@enea.it"
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This newsletter is funded under the TRICK project
TRICK project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No
958352
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