Blockchain technology has been proposed — and is being piloted — for all manner of supply chain applications, particularly for verifying the provenance of source of materials, commodities, food or goods. Two European companies, polyamide supplier Domo and polymer manufacturer Covestro, are collaborating with Dutch technology startup Circularise to create a system for tracking plastics.

The ultimate goal is to create an open standard for sharing data about where resins or materials originate — information that’s important for moving to circular production models that help the plastics industry increase the use of recycled content and decrease the use of virgin plastic.

The system proposed by Circularise Plastics (PDF) relies on the creation of a "digital twin" that represents a physical product, say a bag of resin, and that is used to track claims made about the actual material such as the lot number, a contents analysis or even whether the substance was recycled. The digital representation includes all the data and verified documentation — the "material passport" — about the physical item.

Read the full article about promoting a circular economy through blockchain technology by Heather Clancy at GreenBiz.