Insight into product sustainability

The content and origin of every product - whether it's a chocolate bar or a luxury handbag - in the supply chain can be followed digitally. This offers opportunities in achieving recycling targets. GS1 Digital Link can be a welcome link in this.

The awareness among consumers with regard to sustainability is increasing. Webshops and producers place articles online and information about content and origin is visible. A big challenge for companies is to then use the right tools, not only for the sustainable marketing of products, but also to keep them sustainable throughout the entire life cycle. These tools should be scalable, used worldwide and have an impact.

Spindle in the web

The standard 'GS1 Digital Link' links GS1 identification numbers (GTIN) in web addresses to online information, for example about the packaging, the content, the origin and the final destination of a product. It bridges the gap between information requirements among consumers and the product information available on the internet, and can serve as a 'pivot in the web' in the recycling of products and in awareness surrounding sustainability.

Encourage recycling consciousness

Packaging techniques are improving quickly. Each package and each product has its own identity through a serialised barcode or QR code. Consumers who scan the product and packaging connect to the digital product identity. By scanning it is also possible to make the supply chain for any article transparent. For producers and retailers this is a unique opportunity to show what they do to keep an item sustainable throughout the supply chain, after it has been produced. The supply chain information about the product that can be connected to each other using GS1 Digital Link can stimulate awareness for recycling. Various apps are already responding to this. For example, there is an app that shows Spanish customers at a supermarket chain how they can recycle individual products. The app places items in pre-defined waste bins, so that consumers can immediately see which type of waste it is and where they can throw it away. Furthermore, the consumer who uses the app in the right way will be awarded points that offer discounts on the purchase of comparable products.

Call for Dutch pilot

There is a growing awareness among producers, retailers and consumers. More transparency about the environmental impact of various materials is the aim, as is the importance of clearer communication about recycling methods. In the U.S. a number of companies have already started using GS1 Digital Link. GS1 innovation manager Frits van den Bos: "We also want to start a pilot in the Netherlands. I'm calling on companies that want to join us in this. It doesn't really have to be big. Starting small is the advice, especially for manufacturers and retailers: start with a QR code that contains the GS1 Digital Link and leads this to a simple web page with interesting information for the consumer."

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