8.EuRIC Call for Recycled ContentPlastics.pdf

Ref. Ares(2023)5193231 - 26/07/2023

Plastic is the second most commonly used material in vehicles  after metals. Modern cars contain several
plastic parts and components (e.g., dashboards, bumpers, handles, buttons, casings, ceiling fabric, seats, seat belts,
airbag, carpeting, etc.). The use of plastics in the car manufacturing industry presents several advantages, such as
a vehicle mass reduction, which leads to lower fuel consumption and a decrease in emissions of Green House Gasses
(GHG). For example, lowering the overall weight of a vehicle by 10 kg can cut 1 g/km of CO2 emissions1 that is
480 kg of CO2 over its lifetime (considering a maximum life expectancy of up to 480,000 km)2. Furthermore, plastic
parts have several technical properties, such as impact strength, thermal insulation, noise reduction, and corrosion
resistance that make them an optimal material to be used in vehicles3.
Assuming that an average car weighs 1,300 kg and that plastics content represents 12-15% of its mass (50% of car
volume), this amounts to 150-200 kg of plastic per vehicle4, and this is expected to increase in the coming years
due to a growing demand from the market for high-performance, lightweight and fuel-efficient, safe vehicles5.
EuRIC  represents  authorized  treatment  facilities  (ATFs)  and the  vast  majority of end-of-life vehicles  (ELV)
recycling facilities (i.e., shredders and post-shredder installations), as well as of technical plastics recyclers which
recycle ELVs including ELV plastics. These companies have pioneered for the last twenty years technical plastics
recycling, not only in Europe but globally, by recycling the most common types of polymers present in cars, and
meeting similar performance standards as virgin polymers used in new cars.
Yet, the untapped potential to increase plastics circularity in cars is substantial and hampers investments
into mature technologies to recycle more plastics from ELVs in Europe incidentally bringing huge environmental,
social and economic benefits.

Binding  post-consumer  recycled  content  targets  for  plastics  in  cars  are  the  much-needed  signal  to  boost
circularity and combat global warming as it:

§ Provides the certainty needed by Europe’s technical plastics recyclers to invest and scale up capacity in
mature technologies providing quality recycled plastics for the automotive sector;

§ Rewards plastics recycling substantial benefits in terms of GHG emissions and energy savings that the
market fails to internalise in prices;

§ Improves design for recycling of plastics in cars and investment into innovative technologies to recycle
certain types of polymers which are currently not recycled.

Types of plastics used in car production
There are currently about 39 different types of basic plastics and polymers used to make an automobile6. The
most common ones (approx. 74% of the plastic used in cars) are polypropylene (PP) (35%) (e.g., bumpers, cable
insulation carpet fibres, etc.), polyurethane (PU) (19%) (e.g., foam seating, insulation panels, suspension bushings,
cushions, electrical compounds, etc.), polyamides (PA) (11%) (e.g., battery casings, brake hoses, oil sumps, etc.)
and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) (9%) (e.g., instrument panels, electrical cables, pipes, doors, etc.)7. A variety of other
plastics and polymers, including engineering plastics, are also used and combined for other automotive parts (e.g.,
acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE), polyoxymethylene (POM), polycarbonate
(PC), acrylic (PMMA), etc.)6.
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European Recycling Industries’ Confederation ● Europäischer Bund der Recyclingindustrien ● Confédération Européenne des Indus tries du Recyclage
Transparency Register number : 764633015511-42

Plastics recycling from ELVs – State of play
Automotive is a major industrial and economic force worldwide with an annual estimation of 40 million ELVs
globally8. The proper management of ELVs in accordance with the ELV directive is of paramount importance to
move towards a more circular economy as defined in the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP).
In Europe, between 6 to 7 million of ELVs are treated annually in compliance with the ELV Directive while
around 4 million vehicles ended up in unknown whereabouts9. The 6.6 million of ELVs treated in 2017 generate
over eight million tonnes of waste10, from which more than one million tonnes corresponds to plastics. Circular
plastics in ELVs should translate in proper recycling of plastics parts to ensure they find their way back into new
cars11.
The development of mechanical and thermal recycling of plastics from Automotive Shredder Residue (ASR)
in the EU stems directly from the ELV Directive which imposes high weight-based recovery targets, namely 85% of
material recovery and 10% of energy recovery.  State-of-the-art post-treatment technologies enables to recover
ELV plastics’ fractions which are then separated per polymer using different separation technologies, such as float-
sink tanks (i.e., density separation), or laser and infra-red systems used to separate plastics based on colour. The
final recycling steps consist in shredding and extrusion, which results in the production of post-industrial pellets by
polymer-types  meeting  industry  specifications  for  their  re-incorporation  into  new  cars.  In  addition,  polymers
containing volatile and solid contaminants that need to be thoroughly extracted in order to produce high-quality
re-granulate suitable for reuse, are re-processed by special vacuum degassing extruder modules.
The  increasing  complexity  of  multi-material  vehicle  design  has  created  several  challenges  for  vehicle
recycling. For example, the wide variety of plastics used in automobiles (incl. a large number of resins, different
additives, etc.), or the presence of reinforced plastics (containing fillers such as glass fibre, carbon fibre and glass
beads) that are difficult, if not impossible, to recycle. Mainly due to those challenges and the lack of incentives to
encourage  an  increased  demand of  recycled  plastics  in  the  automotive  sector,  only  polymers  present  in higher
amounts (e.g., PP, ABS, PS) are currently being recycled.

The need for recycled plastics content in cars
Front runners in the automotive industry are already sourcing post-consumer and post-industrial recycled
plastics for several parts of new cars, primarily interior and drivetrain components. To quote only a few publicly-
available examples, a major French car-maker incorporates up to 20% recycled plastics in the cars manufactured in
Europe that translates into more than 50 kg of recycled plastics11. The same company has set a recycling scheme for
polypropylene (PP) shields. As a result, seven qualities of PP from the automotive recycling sector have already been
validated, three of which are used for serial applications, in particular for wheel arches, while the others are being
validated on vehicle projects12. Plastics from industrial or household waste, which given their degradation are no
longer suitable for similar applications, are increasingly being recycled into durable plastics to make new car parts.
For instance, other automobile manufacturer uses recycled polyurethane foam plastic in the seat cushions of one
of  its  flagship models  and the wheel liners of  another  model  are made with 64%  recycled plastics13.  A premium
Scandinavian automotive manufacturer aims to integrate 25% of recycled plastic in cars by 202514.
Technical plastics recyclers have proven for the last decade that the technology to recycle the most commonly
used polymer types (PP, PE, PP, PS, ABS) in ELVs is mature enough to deliver the quality required by the car industry
at a competitive price except if oil prices drop significantly. Yet, the vast majority of ELV plastics are not recycled
or are down-cycled due to the lack of end-markets and design for circularity; hence, the untapped potential is
extremely  significant  and  will  certainly  keep  growing  as  plastics  contained  in  vehicles  is  expected  to  further
increase.

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European Recycling Industries’ Confederation ● Europäischer Bund der Recyclingindustrien ● Confédération Européenne des Indus tries du Recyclage
Transparency Register number : 764633015511-42

A  rough  estimate  shows  that  if  the  plastics  from  all  ELVs  generated  in  Europe  were  recycled,  it  could
potentially avoid about 1 Mt of CO2 eq.15, which could compensate for the carbon footprint of producing
100,000 new cars. A plastic amount that if not recycled would be otherwise landfilled or incinerated; therefore,
plastics recycling results in major environmental benefits not only in terms of circularity but also in terms of global
warming mitigation, confirming that ELT recycling supports the overarching objectives set in The European
Green Deal to speed up the transition towards a circular economy and achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

Binding  recycled  content  targets  for  plastics  in  cars  instrumental  to  boost  plastics  circularity  in  the
automotive sector
To achieve a truly circular economy and combat climate change, measures to pull the demand for recycled
content are instrumental to bridge high recycling targets with end-markets and proper design to avoid material
down-cycling. Technical plastics recyclers and front runners of the automotive sector have proven over the last two
decades that it is possible to gradually increase the share of recycled plastics into new cars.

Binding post-consumer recycled content targets for plastics in cars are vital to:
§ Increase circularity of plastics used in the automotive sector;
§ scale-up recycling capacity in Europe by securing long-term demand; and
§ maximize resources’ as well as greenhouse gas emission savings.

In line with the Plastics Strategy, it is vital to scale up plastics recycling cars by securing long-term
demand through binding recycled content for thermoplastics used in new cars.
This  can  be  accompanied  by  targeted  eco-design  measures  in  the  form  of  best  practices  to,  for
example, reduce additives, ensure that paints used on plastic parts can easily be separated at recycling
stage, or avoid the use of plastics made with a mixture of polymers. Also, economic incentives for car
manufacturers to incorporate recycled plastic in vehicles could be considered.
Gradual  and  fully  achievable  recycled  content  targets  for  post-consumer  thermoplastics  in new
cars should be set as follows:
-  25% by 2025,
-  30% by 2030 and,
-  35% by 2035.
The recycled content targets shall be calculated on the basis of the  total weight of thermoplastics
used in each car. Such recycled content targets would directly support the objectives set in the Plastics
Strategy of reaching 10 million tons of recycled plastics used to make products in the EU by 2025.

For more information, please contact: xxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xx

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European Recycling Industries’ Confederation ● Europäischer Bund der Recyclingindustrien ● Confédération Européenne des Indus tries du Recyclage
Transparency Register number : 764633015511-42

The European Recycling Industries’ Confederation - is the umbrella organisation for recycling industries. Through its Member Federations and Companies

from 21 EU&EFTA countries, EuRIC represents across Europe over:

§  5,500+  companies  generating  an  aggregated  annual  turnover  of  about  95  billion  €,  including  large companies and SMEs,  involved in the

recycling and trade of various resource streams;
§   300,000 local jobs which cannot be outsourced to third EU countries;

§   Million tons of waste recycled per year (metals, paper, glass, plastics, WEEE, ELVs, tyres, textiles and beyond).

By turning wastes into resources, recycling is the link which reintroduces recycled materials into the value chains again and again. Recyclers play a key role in

bridging resource efficiency, climate change policy and industrial transition.

R E F E R E N C E S

1 Plastics Europe (2013). Automotive – The world moves with plastics. Retrieved from:
https://www.plasticseurope.org/download_file/force/935/750
2 Weisbaum, H. (2006) What is the life expectancy of my car? NBC news. Retrieved from:
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/12040753/ns/business-consumer_news/t/whats-life-expectancy-my-car/#.XkEc_GhKhPY
3 Pradeep, S.A., et al. (2017) Automotive applications of plastics: past, present, and future. Applied Plastics Engineering Handbook.
William Andrew Publishing, pp. 651-673). Retrieved from:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780323390408000316
4 Merkisz-Guranowska, A. (2018). Waste recovery of end-of-life vehicles. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering.
421. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/-328227295_Waste_recovery_of_end-of-life_vehicles
5 Kosacka-Olejnik, M. (2019). How manage waste from end-of-life vehicles? - method proposal. IFAC-PapersOnLine. 52. Retrieved
from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article-/pii/S2405896319314326
6 The Plastics Industry Trade Association (2016). Automotive Recycling – Devalued is now Revalued. Plastics Market Watch – A series
on economic-demographic-consumer & technology trends in specific plastics in markets. Retrieved from:
https://www.plasticsindustry.org/sites/default/files/2016-03256-SPI-PMW-Auto-Recycle-web.pdf’
7 ICIS. EU passenger car sales fall 76% in April. Retrieved from :
https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2020/05/19/10508916/eu-passenger-car-sales-fall-76-in-april
8 Sakai S., et al. (2014) An international comparative study of end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling systems. J Mater Cycles Waste
Management. 16:1–20. Retrieved from: https://www.academia.edu/26565249/-An_international_comparative_study_of_end-of-
life_vehicle_ELV_recycling_systems
9 Mehlhart, G.; Kosińska, I.; Baron, Y.; and Hermann, A. (2017). Assessment of the implementation of Directive 2000/53/EU on end-of-
life vehicles (the ELV Directive) with emphasis on the end-of -life vehicles of unknown whereabouts. Oeko-Institut e.V. Retrieved from:
https://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/elv/pdf/ELV_report.pdf
10 Eurostat (2017). Recovery and recycling rate for end-of-life vehicles. Retrieved
from:  https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do
11 European Commission (2019). End of life vehicles – Introduction. Retrieved from:
https://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/elv/index.htm
12 Champagne, X. (2018) Jean-Denis Curt, Groupe Renault: We integrate up to 20% recycled plastic in our vehicles made in Europe.
Autoact.com – The newspaper.  Retrieved from: http://www.autoactu.com/jean-denis-curt--groupe-renault----on-integre-jusqu-a-20--de-
matiere-plastique-recyclee-dans-nos-vehicules-fabriques-en-europe-.shtml

12 Gallone, T. and Zeni-Guido, A. (2019). Closed-loop polypropylene, an opportunity for the automotive sector. Field Actions Science
Reports (19) 48-53. Retrieved from: https://journals.openedition.org-/factsreports/5225
14 FIAT (2013). Sustainability Report – Economic, Environmental and Social Responsibility. Retrieved from:
https://www.fcagroup.com/en-US/sustainability/overview/pubblicazioni/FiatDocuments/2013_sustainability_report.pdf

15 Soo, V. et al, (2017). Comparative Study of End-of-Life Vehicle Recycling in Australia and Belgium. Procedia CIRP. Retrieved from:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/-S2212827116313919
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European Recycling Industries’ Confederation ● Europäischer Bund der Recyclingindustrien ● Confédération Européenne des Indus tries du Recyclage
Transparency Register number : 764633015511-42