For recyclers
Know what it is before you open it
Most material is lost at intake, to a decision made in seconds without composition data, a disassembly sequence, or any indication of where the battery is. A passport puts those in the scan.
- Access
- Credential-verified
- Cost to facility
- None
- Integration
- API at the line
Definition
What does a recycler see in a Digital Product Passport?
A verified treatment facility resolves the restricted tier: full material composition, the ordered disassembly sequence with fastener types, the location of batteries and other hazardous components, substances of concern, and recovery routes. That data is gated behind a credential rather than published openly, and costs the facility nothing.
The ESPR requires information necessary for treatment to reach the parties that need it. The practical question is whether it arrives in a form an intake line can consume in seconds — which is why this is an API before it is a web page.
At intake
What changes at the point of decision
| Decision | Without a passport | With one |
|---|---|---|
| Is it safe to open? | Inferred from the model, if it is legible | Battery and hazardous component locations, before opening |
| What is it made of? | Judged by eye, or by test if it justifies one | Declared composition, asserted by the manufacturer |
| How does it come apart? | Trial and error, then force | Ordered sequence and fastener types |
| Is recovery worth it? | Guesswork on critical raw material content | Where the recoverable value actually sits |
| Which stream? | Best guess at the sorting line | Manufacturer-declared recovery route |
Capabilities
Built for the intake line
Scan to treatment view
One scan resolves straight to the restricted tier, with no search and no model lookup.
Hazard locations
Where the battery, capacitors and substances of concern sit, before anyone applies a tool.
Disassembly sequences
Ordered steps and fastener types, as the manufacturer documented them for service.
Composition at material level
Declared material composition rather than a product category, so sorting is a decision rather than a guess.
Recovery routing
The manufacturer’s declared end-of-life route, and the take-back scheme it belongs to if there is one.
Write recovery back
Record what was recovered against the product identity, closing the loop for the brand’s own reporting.
Answers
Frequently asked questions
What does a recycler get from a Digital Product Passport?
Material composition, the disassembly sequence and fastener types, the location of batteries and other hazardous components, and the substances of concern present. Those four facts decide whether an item is depolluted safely and whether recoverable materials are recovered or lost in shredding.
Do we have to pay for access?
No. Under the ESPR (EU) 2024/1781, information necessary for treatment must be made available to the parties that need it, including repairers and recyclers. CirculeID resolves the treatment tier to verified facilities without charge to the facility; the brand issuing the passport bears the platform cost.
How do we prove we are a legitimate treatment facility?
By presenting a credential issued by your permitting or accreditation body, or by the brand operating a take-back scheme. It is verified cryptographically at resolution and can be revoked if a permit lapses. A caller without one receives the public tier, which does not include disassembly data.
Our intake is seconds per item. Is this practical?
It has to be, or it will not be used. A scan resolves to the treatment view directly, and the API returns structured data your sorting or WMS system can consume without a person reading a page. The realistic integration is machine-to-machine at the intake line, not an operator with a phone.
What about products made before passports existed?
They are the majority of what you receive today and will be for years. Passports can be issued retrospectively against a model identity from the manufacturer’s own records, which gives you model-level composition and disassembly data even where item-level history does not exist.
Next step
Get credentialed access for your facility
Tell us which streams you treat and which brands you receive. We will arrange verified access to the treatment tier for the passports that exist.