Author: Aditi Desai ’24
Traceability is the process of identifying and tracking a product’s creation process from raw material to finished goods. Conveying traceability data is an extremely useful tool to communicate information about the product as it moves through the value chain. Traceability is a particularly impactful tool for advancing sustainability objectives, but it still has a long way to go before it is an integral part of sustainable supply chain management, and before it is widely used by companies.
Image credit: Bhushan Suryawanshi
[Part 1]: How does traceability advance sustainability in global supply chains?
Although traceability schemes have slightly different definitions, they all reference a process by which a product moves from its original raw material extraction and production phase to the final customer. The original ISO definition of traceability is “the ability to identify and trace the history, distribution, location, and application of products, parts, and materials.”
In the context of sustainability, traceability is a tool to assure and verify sustainability claims associated with commodities and products, ensuring good practice and respect for people and the environment all along the supply chain. The value of traceability with regard to sustainability comes from the realizability of information coming from a traceable system. For example, schemes ensuring that minerals are not sourced from conditions of armed conflict (known as “conflict minerals”) aim to address the human rights abuses in conflict areas and avoid purchasing materials that can directly or indirectly finance and increase the intensity of those conflicts. Programs that certify the use of products that are grown in sustainable cultivations, whether they relate to food (e.g., cocoa, nuts, or coffee) or to other commodities (e.g., cotton or wood), can have numerous effects on the environment, from the reduction of carbon footprints to the prevention of deforestation.
[Part 2]: What does traceability look like today?
With current technology available to trace each raw material that goes into a product and follow how a product is used and where it is discarded, traceability has emerged as both a feasible and effective front. In fact, digital traceability enables companies to meet and balance a broader set of business objectives, including efficiency, resilience, responsiveness, and sustainability. Across most industries and sectors, we are already starting to see companies with traceable supply chains. For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, WHO estimates that around 11 percent of medicines in developing countries are counterfeit and that “anywhere from 100,000 to a million people die each year due to falsified drugs” (World Economic Forum). Recalls of medications are often unavoidable when a product is contaminated or deemed unsafe. Thus, traceability provides a potentially life-saving informational perspective on pharmaceutical products, such as status confirmation and expiry date.
[Part 3]: How do we make traceability more transparent? [Case study in the menstrual industry]
Companies are rushing to more closely track materials across their supply chains (due to new regulations and environmental laws). To dive into an industry-specific example, over the past few years, feminine hygiene products have been turning up contaminated by PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. These “forever chemicals” are ubiquitous and persistent manufacturing chemicals that have been linked to a range of health issues by the EPA. In a series of analyses commissioned between 2020 and 2022, it was found that 48 percent of sanitary pads and liners were found to contain PFAS. Thus, there has been a major push to develop cleaner and more sustainably made period products, such as menstrual cups and underwear.
In the realm of menstrual products, the company August has demonstrated the power of traceability and digital communication to its users through its online platform. Moreover, Aisle is another sustainable period product company that prioritizes traceability as demonstrated through its partnership with the B-corp certification. This allows a third party to run a comprehensive analysis of Aisle’s supply chain, the sourcing of their materials, and their after-life product management. Having a non-biased standardized source means more transparency between the companies and consumers and accountability for said companies.
Image Credit: Aisle
For Aisle, sustainability means that the company’s products are made using traceable raw materials verified by their cradle-to-grave tracing processes. In other words, it’s not just about the textile that period garments are made of, but the process that gets the products to the consumer.
Traceability, while a technical term, allows consumers to track the cycle of a product. This comprehensive insight helps those wanting to support sustainable companies, and “vote with one’s dollar.”