Blogs
Unlocking Circularity with Materials Passports (and Matrak)

What are Materials Passports?
A materials passport is a digital record that details the specifications, origin, lifecycle, and potential future use of building materials. This passport is essential to a circular economy where materials can be reused, repurposed, or recycled effectively. Embracing circularity is not just virtue signalling – it reduces waste and emissions immediately.
A materials passport is the transformative tool that enables organisations to play an active role in the circular economy.
Why Circularity Matters
The traditional linear approach in construction – take, make, dispose – is no longer viable or even justifiable. The construction industry contributes to 40% of global emissions, and resources are increasingly finite.
Circularity flips this outdated model on its head by ensuring materials are seen as assets that retain value beyond their initial use. It also means that organisations are not beholden to rises costs of non-renewable sources. In fact, they become ‘banks’ of reusable resources; boosting sustainability and lowering long-term costs.
The Challenge of Implementing Materials Passports
The complexity of modern construction supply chains is the primary challenge in creating a comprehensive materials passport. A single building project may involve hundreds of suppliers and subcontractors.
Each of these parties contribute components sourced from various global manufacturers (with their own vendors too).
This fragmentation and multi-layering of relationships leads to siloed information. It’s nearly impossible for any company to maintain a complete record of materials throughout their lifecycle without a shared platform.
Many companies rely on ad-hoc spreadsheets and inconsistent documentation. This does not translate into a cohesive system with standardised information capture or rigorous data validation.
What makes things even harder is that supplier partnerships are often guarded as proprietary information. Organisations don’t want to run the risk of being cut out of deals as the middleman.
So you can see why gaining full transparency in a supply chain and achieving true circularity remains more aspiration than reality.
How Matrak Facilitates Materials Passports and Circularity
Matrak changes the game by providing a platform designed for deep, end-to-end supply chain tracking. Here’s how we uniquely enables materials passports and circularity:
- End-to-End Visibility: Matrak acts as a shared platform right out of the box. Manufacturers, suppliers, subcontractors, and builders can collaborate and share critical data whilst protecting sensitive information. They can share product specifications, weights, embodied carbon, and quality certifications – all key for a comprehensive materials passport. Even better, this can be done with little to no effort on anyone’s part.
- Seamless Integration: Unlike traditional methods that require manual data entry and reconciliation, Matrak uses automated data collection through existing supply-chain communications. Simply cc’ing Matrak on logistics emails ensures that essential documents – such as shipping manifests, packing lists, and production reports – are captured and digitised.
- Supplier-Invite Mechanism: Companies can invite their own suppliers into the Matrak ecosystem – for free. This creates a continuous chain of data visibility down to the original source manufacturer. Multi-layered relationship webs are managed autonomously and in real-time.
- Custom Permissions for Data Security: We haven’t forgetting about privacy and security though. Permissions in Matrak are highly customizable, ensuring that sensitive business information remains protected. Each stakeholder can determine what data is shared and with whom, balancing transparency with competitive confidentiality.
- Enhanced Embodied Carbon Calculations: Sometimes suppliers just don’t have certain information at hand – particularly when it comes to carbon certificates like EPDs. Matrak bridges these data gaps using data sources from major Australian and Chinese carbon assessment organisations to accurately calculate emissions. We utilise information provided by the likes of Green Building Council of Australia, China Building Materials Federation, NABERS, EC3 and CBME.
Why Matrak is the Perfect Partner for Circular Construction
Matrak also has extensive connections in global manufacturing hubs – from China to Vietnam. That positions it uniquely to capture detailed material data directly from the source.
This transparency is what transforms basic material tracking or even a comprehensive materials passport into actionable insights for circularity.
With Matrak, you’re not just track progress; you’re creating a complete, auditable record that turns buildings into future resource repositories. Leverage previous projects to deliver more effectively, and more eco-efficiently, on future work.
The 5-Minute Challenge: Start Your Materials Passports Initiative
Getting started with materials passports is simpler than you think. Here’s how to roll it out with Matrak in just five minutes:
Step 1 – Set Clear Expectations with Your Supply Chain
Use Matrak’s pre-drafted contract language (link here) to ensure your suppliers and subcontractors know their role in maintaining material records. This upfront step secures buy-in and sets a clear standard for data-sharing.
Step 2 – Sign Up and Create Your First Project
Register for a free Matrak account and set up your first project. Indicate that you want to enable materials passports and specify which trades you’re tracking. This takes less than two minutes and establishes the framework for data collection.

Step 3 – Invite Your Suppliers and Subcontractors:
Add key suppliers to your project in a click. As mentioned above Matrak’s layered invitation system means they can onboard their own supplier. Doing so will help make end-to-end transparency and data capture reality.
Plus, there’s no downside – only benefits for the entire supply chain. Stakeholders can set permissions as needed to maintain data security.
Step 4 – Start Tracking with Minimal Effort:
There’s no need for tech-savviness or cloud specialists. Suppliers can upload documents directly to the platform or just CC Matrak in emails with the required attachments.
Matrak’s system digitizes these records, creating a complete materials passport that includes all relevant product details and embodied carbon data.
Step 5 – Access Real-Time Reports:
Monitor your project’s progress and access live updates on material data, embodied carbon, and potential reuse opportunities.
Auditable activity logs are created by default and every user can access the right information, at the right time, in the right place, and in the right format to make the most effective decisions.
This data doesn’t just meet compliance needs; it positions your company as a leader in sustainable construction.
Ready to Embrace Circularity?
With Matrak, achieving comprehensive, auditable materials passports is simpler than ever. Take the 5-minute challenge today and start rolling out material passports across your projects.
Empower your business to not just comply but lead in the movement toward a circular economy.