How GTIN can contribute to improved circularity

Oct 3, 2022

From the outside, a window may just as be any window. But when reaching its end-of-life, knowing the specific components and configuration can be the difference between sustainable repurposing and recycling or ending as general waste.

At NorDan, we know what we manufacture and our customers know what they get. But until now there hasn't been a robust enough way to make sure that documents and specifications are kept intact through the entiry of a product's lifetime.

With this as the backdrop, in August 2022 NorDan introduced GTIN for the majority of NorDan manufactured windows and doors. GTIN, or Global Trade Item Number became the most recent action in further transforming NorDan and the building material industry into a fully traceable and sustainable sector.

An International Standard

GTIN is a standard governed by GS1, an international not-for-profit organisation responsible for developing and maintaining standards for barcodes and other product identification. With a wide, global implementation GTIN is a way of identifying products you interact with almost every day, from barcodes to the unique numbers strings they are generated from.

Millions of options

One of the main challenges uniquely identifying windows and doors are the vast number of configuration options for every single base product. Ranging from dimensions by the millimetre to thousands of glazing options, interior and exterior colours, and everything in between, there are millions of options. When products reach their end of life after 60 years, uniquely identify the specific configured product is necessary for safe and sustainable handling.

Digital foundation

GTIN on NorDan products is currently generated at the order confirmation stage and is provided in the order documents. Future digitalisation projects will see online GTIN lookup services and further product labelling, allowing for even further use cases for GTIN. The possibility of identifiying a specific product at the item line level is an important part of NorDan’s digital foundation. In accordance with the ecoDigital ready strategy it contributes to more sustainable and circular solutions in the future.

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