Automotive supplier Faurecia and global waste management company Veolia have signed a cooperation and research agreement to jointly develop compounds based on recycled materials for automotive interior modules in Europe. The companies aim to achieve an average of 30% of recycled content by 2025. Targeted applications, say the companies, are instrument panels, door panels and centre consoles.
Increasing the use of recycled plastics will help to reduce CO2 emissions and improve cars’ environmental performance. Veolia has been providing polypropylene compounds twith recycled content to the automotive industry in France for over 5 years. Today, however, automotive interiors are still mostly made of virgin material. This collaboration project with Faurecia will enable the automotive product range to be extended to vehicle interiors.
“As demand for recycled plastic increases across all sectors in the context of resource scarcity, there is a need to recycle more plastic waste streams. The collaboration with Faurecia allows us to increase our supply of secondary raw materials to the automotive industry through the development of high value-added compounds,” said Estelle Brachlianoff, Group Chief Operating Officer at Veolia.
Faurecia has been exploring the use of alternative materials in its interior products for many years. In 2011, the company became the first automotive supplier to introduce a complete range of bio-composite cockpit solutions offering a 28% lower CO2 footprint that of conventional all-plastic counterparts. Now, more than a decade later, these products have already been installed in around 13 million vehicles. In 2021, In line with its CO2 neutrality objectives, Faurecia created a cross-Business Group Sustainable Materials division to engineeer and manufacture new material solutions.
The partnership with Veolia is aimed at accelerating the introduction of new sustainable materials and their time-to-market, said Patrick Koller, CEO at Faurecia, as well as contributing to reducing plastic waste and strengthening the circular economy. “This agreement will also strongly contribute to Faurecia’s roadmap towards CO2 neutrality for scope 3, based on the principles of using less, using better and using longer,” he explained.
Veolia will start the production of these secondary raw materials at its existing recycling sites in France starting from 2023.
Faurecia, Veolia explore recycled plastics in automotive interiors
