Argentina Tests Textile Chemical Passports

by · WWD
Textile companies in Argentina are testing digital product records to track chemical inputs and support safer reuse and recycling.Justin Jin/UNEP

Twenty textile companies in Argentina are testing a digital system to record the chemicals used to make their products and keep that information available when materials are reused or recycled.

Supported by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the Basel Convention Regional Center for South America and Argentina’s National Institute of Industrial Technology are implementing the pilot. Participants include raw material producers, spinners, finishers, garment manufacturers and brands.

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Each product receives a unique identifier, with companies adding information as it moves through production. UNEP says records could eventually include more than 125 data points, covering chemical inputs, materials, emissions, recycled and recyclable content and expected lifespan.

“This pilot is an opportunity to understand what information companies can realistically provide, how it can be structured and shared digitally, and how this can support more sustainable and circular decisions across the sector,” Alberto Santos Capra, director of the Basel Convention Regional Center for South America.

The pilot offers technical support and training without requiring a financial investment from participating companies. The project plan says it will handle shared data confidentially.

Recyclers need to know what cutting-room scraps contain before they can safely turn them into new fabric, UNEP said.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, cites a 2014 assessment identifying about 3,500 substances used in textile production, including 750 classified as hazardous to human health and 440 hazardous to the environment.

The EU is deciding what information textile digital passports must include under its Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. A QR code or similar marker would link each covered product to its digital record.

The European Commission plans to adopt the textile rules in the fourth quarter of 2027, followed by a transition period of at least 18 months. The requirements will apply to covered products placed on the EU market, wherever they are made.

“A material may be technically recoverable, but without verifiable information about what it contains, putting it back into circulation becomes much more difficult,” said Mariano Piñeyrua Mailhos, CEO of traceability organization TraceSurfer, in the UNEP statement. “That is exactly the gap digital product passports are designed to close.”

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