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There's more to digital product passports than circularity, repairability and environmental concerns. Unethical sourcing practices is another issue aimed at by the EU. In other words, conflict minerals and child labour. Let's take a look at the latter.
152.000.000 children aged 5-17 in child labour
For comparison, that's roughly half of the US population in 2022. Or a few million more than the official population of Russia in 2022. (International Labour Organisation and World Bank).
Looking for some kind of bright spot, the majority of these 152 million children do not work in factories. Actually 70% work in agriculture. But that still leaves 45.6 million children, close to the population of Spain in 2022, the majority of which do work in factories, often under depressing and hazardous conditions.
Just imagine, almost the entire population of Spain, aged 5-17, working under poor conditions, producing clothes, textiles or other products for the rest of us at low wages (if any) instead of playing or learning in school.
Who made that low cost shirt of yours? Or your rug?
Apart from agriculture, as we mentioned before, the industries most notorious for using child labour are:
Mining
Garment and Textile industry
Carpet Making
Brick Kilns
Those bricks are primarily for local use, but the other three industries sell their goods internationally and will be affected by digital product passports requiring valid certification of production without child labour.
Mining – often in primitive, rogue mines, frequently in conflict areas with little or corrupt control by authorities. Prone to accidents and exposing workers of all ages to dust and dangerous substances from either extraction or refining. "Of all ages", but the exposure of children still growing and developing brains and physics is particularly harmful and can cause a range of illnesses later in life.
Garment and Textiles – may be the most well known industry using child labour to produce fabrics, cheap clothes, fast fashion. Often in crammed factories with poor safety in case of accidents. A special case is the leather industry. The strong and hazardous chemicals used in tanning are often both an alarming health hazard and an environmental catastrophe. To handle the chemicals and the emissions, you need expensive equipment and processes, often neglected in the name of profitability. Not only are the children at danger at work, the environment they live in may well be subject to extreme pollution.
Carpet Making – have you ever wondered how they managed to tie as many knots per square centimeter on that oriental rug of yours? The simple answer is often: Because those knots were tied by tiny hands. The hands of children. Traditionally, tying rugs by hand is a work for women and children.
Driven by poverty. Cementing poverty.
When you're poor, desperate to feed many hungry tummies, you often see no better alternative than sending your children to whatever work that may be found. This happens to be a common argument also in favour of child labour: "Is there a better alternative?", an argument we don't agree with.
A major problem of child labour is that it is self-perpetuating. A vicious circle. Child labour means not only hazards and a lost childhood, but also a lost opportunity for education. Educating children, especially girls, is proven to be the strongest factor behind lifting nations out of poverty, out of over-population and infant mortality.
Not addressing the issue of child labour is equal to cementing poverty.
Digital product passports for responsible consumption
So, although the most highlighted purpose for digital product passports may be circularity and environmental care, but behind it we see an over-arching purpose of responsible consumption, responsible for our planet, for people – living and coming generations, and for all life on our planet.
It sounds grandiose, but any journey starts with single steps.
Introducing digital product passports will make it easier for EU citizens to walk the path of responsible consumption.
Image by suc on iStock