In what is expected to be a decades long effort, initial work aims to optimise the functionality of products that already embed NFC technology towards a more efficient circular economy.
According to Mike McCamon, Executive Director of NFC Forum, “Already one of the most energy efficient and low e-waste wireless technologies to connect products, the NFC Forum community is proud to announce its next tangible steps towards researching, learning and advancing our sustainable thinking and approach to do even more.
“This announcement formalises our commitment to innovate and improve the sustainability of everyday products through using NFC technology, which is mass deployed and widely used, to maximise value to consumers and product designers.”
There are currently four technical focuses to NFC Forum’s sustainability activity:
Using NFC to connect and store Digital Product Passport (DPP) data
NFC Forum is developing an NFC DPP Standard to support emerging regulatory requirements, starting in the European Union to support Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulations (ESPR), with an initial focus on the electronics, batteries, and textile sectors, as specified by the European Commission.
This would allow NFC tags and chips already used in electronic goods to link products to online DPP data, giving businesses and consumers reliable and robust access to information on how a product can be re-used, remanufactured, or recycled throughout its lifecycle.
Additionally, it is expected these features will also give regulators higher confidence in these systems.
Powering IoT devices
NFC Wireless Charging also supports power harvesting. Work is underway across the IoT (Internet of Things) community to advance use cases where devices like an NFC-enabled smartphone could power and connect battery-less IoT devices. Using NFC in this capacity would eliminate e-waste from many IoT products, make them more secure, and eliminate the need for products to be constantly charged and connected to the internet.
Charging without cables
NFC Wireless Charging allows small personal and wearable devices, such as wireless earbuds, smartwatches and digital styluses, to be charged without cables. Additionally, NFC Wireless Charging means even the smallest of products can reduce e-waste with rechargeable instead of disposable batteries. Current specifications allow for up to 1W power delivery which is complementary to the Wireless Power Consortium’s Qi standard which starts at 5W.
The NFC Forum is working to increase its recharging wattage to support a wider range of products and designs.
Dematerialising and multi-purpose tap.
The NFC Forum is defining how customer experience can be streamlined making payment, discounts, identity and access a single tap experience. Multi-purpose tap functionality would reduce the volume of physical materials used and, by extension, waste generated, to deliver services.
McCamon explains, "Having standards which align product development and sustainability are essential to a thriving NFC ecosystem and seamless user experiences across all industries and devices.
“Businesses already use NFC technology for a range of use cases and NFC Forum is looking to encourage organisations to maximise the technology’s potential. In the context of the DPP, we encourage businesses already using NFC chips to include DPP data to support the circular economy. To be clear, we are not advocating for more chips to be used in non-technical materials.”
You can find out more about NFC’s ability to support the DPP initiative by watching its webinar - The Circular Economy Redefined: NFC & the Digital Product Passport – where experts from CIRPASS, the Global Battery Alliance, EM Microelectronic, PositiveImpaKT and Infineon Technologies discuss what the DPP is and how NFC technology can be leveraged to amplify it.
Download NFC Forum’s sustainability eBook using the link below.
