Composition and Materials in a DPP: Structuring the Data
Composition and materials form one of the core layers of a Digital Product Passport (DPP). Well-structured material data makes recycling, repair and compliance checks easier. This article shows how to organise that data rather than entering it as loose prose.
What the composition layer covers
The composition layer describes what a product is made of. That is far more than a material name — it is a structure in which individual elements can be identified unambiguously.
In practice it is worth separating several kinds of information:
- main materials and their share of the product,
- substances of concern, where present,
- recycled content,
- detachable parts relevant to repair and recycling.
This split keeps the data readable for very different audiences — from the consumer to a processing plant.
Structured data, not a description
The most common mistake is to treat composition as a descriptive sentence. A passport is meant to be machine-readable, so composition should take the form of data: fields, values, units. Only then can the data be filtered, compared and used in partners' systems.
Structuring also means consistent naming. The same material should be named the same way across the whole catalogue, ideally following a recognised material classification. That avoids a situation where "aluminium" and "aluminium alloy" appear as two separate things.
Where the required scope comes from
The exact scope of composition data depends on the sector. ESPR is a horizontal framework, and the specific fields are set by delegated acts for individual product groups. For some sectors the requirements will be detailed, for others more general.
Do not wait for the final act to start organising your data. The composition structure you build today will be useful regardless of which fields ultimately become mandatory. We describe the phased mechanism in the ESPR timeline.
At which level to describe composition
Composition can be described at the level of a model, a batch or an individual item. The choice depends on how the recipe or suppliers change over time:
- Model — when composition is constant across the whole line.
- Batch — when materials differ between production runs.
- Item — when each unit may have a different composition.
We cover choosing the level in How to set your data granularity, and the levels themselves in Model, batch, item.
Where composition data comes from
Composition data is rarely created from scratch. It usually comes from supplier documentation, material specifications and technical sheets. The challenge is gathering and harmonising it, not inventing it.
That is why it is worth starting with suppliers: they hold the knowledge about materials and substances. The sooner you set the format in which they should provide data, the easier it is to assemble a consistent passport.
Access to composition data
Not all material data has to be fully public. Some information matters to the consumer, some to recyclers, and some may be a trade secret. ESPR provides for layered access, so when designing a passport it is worth deciding upfront what is public and what is restricted.
Substances of concern
Within the composition layer, substances of concern deserve particular attention. Information about their presence matters for safety, recycling and alignment with other regulations.
That is why it is worth flagging them unambiguously and linking them to supplier documentation. Even if the delegated act for your sector does not yet specify the scope, simply being ready to show whether such substances are present is valuable.
Composition, repair and recycling
Well-structured composition is not just a formal requirement — it has practical value for repair and recycling. Information on materials and detachable parts lets repairers and processing plants work faster and more cheaply.
The more clearly you describe what a product is made of and how to take it apart, the greater the chance of reusing materials. It is also a selling point for customers who value durability.
Common traps in composition data
A few mistakes recur when organising composition:
- describing it as a sentence rather than data with fields and units,
- inconsistent naming of the same material across the catalogue,
- omitting recycled content even though the data exists at the supplier,
- mixing levels: some data at model level, some at batch level with no clear split.
Sorting these out at the start makes it easier to extend the passport later.
Key takeaways
- Composition is the DPP layer describing what a product is made of — as data, not prose.
- Separate main materials, substances of concern and recycled content.
- Use consistent material naming across the whole catalogue.
- The level of description (model, batch, item) depends on how the recipe and suppliers vary.
- Gather composition data from suppliers and harmonise it, rather than creating it anew.
See how CyfroPass helps you organise composition and materials data in a single passport. Visit cyfropass.pl and build a structure that survives future delegated acts.