The DPP was designed with your job in mind.

Most digital product passport coverage talks to the companies that must create passports. Recyclers, dismantlers and second-life operators sit on the other side of the QR code: you are the consumers the system was largely built for — and you get privileges ordinary consumers do not. Restricted-tier read access to composition and disassembly data, and for batteries, authorised write roles. Here is what that means in practice.

Last updated: 14 July 2026

In one line: recyclers and dismantlers are privileged DPP consumers — restricted-tier read access to composition, disassembly and substances-of-concern data, plus authorised write roles on battery passports — turning end-of-life processing from guesswork into a data-driven operation.

From guessing to knowing: what a passport changes at the gate

Today, end-of-life economics run on inference. A dismantler receiving a mixed stream estimates material composition from experience, sampling and sorting technology; a battery recycler often cannot tell chemistry, let alone remaining capacity, without opening the pack. Every wrong guess costs money — contaminated fractions, hazardous surprises, valuable materials downcycled because nobody could prove what they were.

A digital product passport replaces that inference with a record created when the product was made: what it contains, how it comes apart, and which substances of concern sit where. Scan the GS1 Digital Link QR code at intake and the routing decision — reuse, remanufacture, material recovery, hazardous handling — can be made on data instead of judgement calls. That is not a side effect of the ESPR framework; improving recyclability and material recovery is one of its stated purposes.

What access recyclers and dismantlers get

DPP data is tiered: some fields are public to anyone who scans, while others are restricted to actors with a legitimate role. The exact tiering is defined per product group in delegated acts, but recyclers and dismantlers are consistently among the intended privileged readers. Expect restricted-tier access to include:

Material composition — what the product and its components are made of, so fractions can be sorted and priced correctly.
Disassembly and dismantling information — how to take the product apart without destroying recoverable value or triggering hazards.
Substances of concern — presence and location, so operators can protect workers and keep contaminants out of recycled streams.

Until the delegated act for a given product group is final, treat the precise field list as indicative — but the direction is settled, and it favours you.

Batteries: where you also hold the pen

For most product groups the recycler is a reader. The battery passport — mandatory from 18 February 2027 for EV batteries, LMT batteries and industrial batteries above 2 kWh — goes further: it is a living record with dynamic fields, and the regulation foresees authorised operators writing to it. Two write scenarios matter for your sector:

State-of-health updates — recording remaining capacity against rated capacity, which determines whether a pack is a second-life asset or feedstock for material recovery.
End-of-life and status events — recording that a battery has been repurposed, remanufactured or sent for recycling, closing the loop the passport exists to document.

Which roles may write which fields is defined by the regulation and its implementing rules, not by the platform — but if you dismantle or repurpose batteries, plan on becoming an authorised writer, with every update logged and attributable.

Working with producers' passports — and getting ready

Practically, preparing means three things. First, intake: build QR scanning of GS1 Digital Link carriers into your receiving process, so passport data flows into routing decisions rather than sitting unread. Second, access: expect to demonstrate your role to obtain restricted-tier credentials — keep your permits and certifications ready. Third, dialogue: producers are designing their passports now, and recyclers who tell them which disassembly data actually helps get better passports to work with later.

PassPer sits on the producer side of that exchange — building registered, sealed passports with tiered access built in (eIDAS qualified sealing from QTSP activation) — which is precisely why we want the recycler side well informed: a passport is only as useful as the reader it was written for. If your suppliers or customers ask where to start, the free readiness check is the two-minute answer.

Frequently asked questions

Do recyclers need to create their own digital product passports?

Not for the recycling service itself — the passport obligation sits with the economic operator placing a product on the EU market. You mainly consume passports created by others. If you go further and place recovered products back on the market — for instance repurposing an EV battery for stationary storage — you can take on passport duties for that new placing on the market, so check your role case by case.

What data can we expect to see in a passport that the public cannot?

The exact access tiers are set per product group in delegated acts, but the design intent of ESPR is clear: recyclers and dismantlers are among the actors given access to data the general public does not see — typically material composition, disassembly and dismantling information, and the presence and location of substances of concern. Treat the specifics as delegated-act-dependent until the rules for your input streams are final.

Can we write to a battery passport ourselves?

Only in an authorised role. The Batteries Regulation treats parts of the passport as dynamic — state of health and status changes such as repurposing or end of life — and foresees updates by authorised operators rather than by anyone holding the QR code. Every authorised update should leave an audit trail showing who changed what and when.

Most of what arrives at our gate has no passport. When does that change?

Gradually. DPP obligations phase in per product group via delegated acts — iron and steel expected first around 2026, textiles indicatively 2027, battery passports mandatory from 18 February 2027 — and they apply to products newly placed on the market, not retroactively to the existing stock of goods. Expect a long transition in which passported and unpassported items arrive side by side, with the passported share growing every year.

See where you stand — three ways, all free.

Take the 2-minute readiness check, watch the 10-minute interactive walkthrough, or download the full 2026 compliance guide. No account needed.

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