Old Cars Could Soon Help Build New Ones As EU Pushes 15% Recycled Plastic In Vehicle Manufacturing

Europe’s new End-of-Life Vehicles regulation will force automakers to use recycled plastics, but pilot projects show the supply chain faces cost, quality and infrastructure hurdles.

Every year, more than 800,000 metric tons of plastic from end-of-life vehicles in Europe are either burned or dumped in landfills. The European Union wants this to change quickly.

Under the proposed revision of the End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation (EU ELV), new cars must contain at least 15% recycled plastic within six years, rising to 25% within a decade. Crucially, one-fifth of that recycled material must come from scrapped vehicles.

With 10.8 million new passenger cars expected to be registered in the EU in 2025, each containing 200–240 kg of plastic, the 15% target translates into roughly 350,000 tons of recycled plastic annually. At present, only 2.5% of plastic from scrapped cars finds its way back into new vehicles.

Pilot Project Tests Feasibility

To bridge this gap, the Global Impact Coalition (GIC), a chemicals industry platform, launched a pilot project involving eight companies. One hundred end-of-life vehicles were dismantled, shredded and sorted to test whether plastics could be recovered and reused.

Charlie Tan, CEO of GIC, said the raw materials exist but the system to convert them into automotive-grade feedstock does not. The pilot showed recycling is technically possible, but costs remain a barrier.

Ana Sofia Almagro, global projects lead at GIC, noted that automakers are uniquely positioned because they both supply and demand recycled plastics. Their need to comply with EU rules provides the demand signal chemicals companies require to build recycling capacity.

Volkswagen’s sustainability chief Dirk Voeste said car design must evolve to make disassembly easier. “If we design a part differently, we can save so much time at disassembly,” he explained. VW is working with Germany’s Open Hybrid Lab-Factory to develop lightweight, resource-efficient materials.

Audi’s Material Loop project is exploring recycling not only plastics but also steel, aluminium and glass.

Mechanical vs Chemical Recycling

Mechanical recycling weakens plastics and limits reuse cycles. Mixing different plastics, contamination and composite packaging add further complications. Chemical recycling, which breaks plastics down into chemical building blocks, offers more flexibility.

Europe currently has 0.29 million tons of chemical recycling capacity, with 2.8 million tons in the pipeline. This is dwarfed by the 53 million tons of plastic waste produced in 2019, forecast to exceed 100 million tons annually by 2060.

Michael Puffer of Covestro said scaling up requires credible demand signals as much as affordable feedstock.

Digital Infrastructure And Future Outlook

The new ELV regulation introduces a Circularity Vehicle Passport, a digital record of materials and components. Voeste said such systems will make disassembly cheaper and compliance easier.

Chemicals companies see opportunities beyond cars. Covestro has identified mattresses as promising, with 44 million disposed annually in Europe, full of polyurethane foam suitable for recycling.

Tan believes lessons from automotive plastics recycling could extend to shipping, consumer goods and fashion. But for now, the automotive sector is expected to drive the shift toward circular plastics.