Newsletter N.6 - 1st June 2022

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.

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

Alessandro Canepa alessandro.canepa@piacenza1733.it

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:

D1.1 Ways to circular value chains - read the Policy Brief and News Post
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
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

The fashion industry faces the challenge of the 'EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles'

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:

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…
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
reduction of the micro-plastic pollution, even from washing: today 40.000 tonnes of synthetic fibers are released by the only washing machines.
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.

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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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/