The upcoming End-of-Life Vehicle Regulation (ELVR) poses a significant challenge for automakers and manufacturers of automotive plastic parts. Within the next few years, all plastic components must contain a share of post-consumer recycled plastics, with a portion sourced from former vehicles.
While details are still being discussed between the European Council and the European Parliament regarding the specifics and the required amount of recycled content, a clearer perspective is emerging. Introducing post-consumer recyclates into plastics is not a straightforward process, as it involves several challenges.
Insight
One major concern is the recycling process itself. While mechanical recycling is generally more efficient in terms of life cycle analysis (LCA), it imposes technical restrictions based on the intended application. Issues such as color, odor, emissions, and impurities—attributes that are currently not accepted—may arise in the next generation of plastics.
Although some advanced sorting and predictive techniques are being developed to address these challenges, none are yet widely implemented at an industrial scale.
The primary challenge relates to the circularity of plastics in the automotive industry. The incoming feedstock comes from vehicles dismantled over the last two decades, where cost, reliability, and performance were the chief engineering priorities. Unfortunately, recyclability was not a consideration at that time. Elements such as painted plastics, metalized coatings, and two-component (2K) molding present significant hurdles for recycling. Additionally, changes in vehicle design and aesthetics raise questions about material reintegration. For example, the shift from red to clear tail light lenses leads to reintegration challenges. Even the engineering sector is now adopting best practices to improve materials' recyclability, but adapting strategies for integrating recycled content from past productions will take time.
The second challenge involves maintaining quality. The automotive industry has established best practices to ensure that complex systems like vehicles remain reliable for at least a decade. These practices focus on production process management to achieve predictable performance. However, incorporating post-consumer recyclate introduces variability and non-repeatability into the mix. Suppliers must disclose any changes in post-consumer recyclate sources used in their materials, non really possible with recycling activities. This integration requires a reevaluation of both design and production standards.
The third challenge lies in aligning the entire supply chain to prioritize recycled content in plastics and adjusting relationships accordingly. Currently, a top-down approach has been employed, with rules originating from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and flowing down to systems, components, and materials suppliers. To gain better control over the supply chain, collaborative relationships are essential. This includes engaging vehicle dismantlers, plastic recyclers, and all stakeholders together to establish new practices that optimize the use of recycled plastics in terms of cost, technical performance, quality, and environmental impact.
While the ELVR mandate is approaching, not everything will be perfect initially. As a compounder, Benvic is committed to developing new plastic solutions by incorporating post-consumer recycled plastics. Different strategies will be adopted depending on the application. A straightforward approach is to substitute a fraction of post-consumer recycled material into our existing plastic formulations, particularly for polyolefins like polypropylene (PP) compounds. Benvic plans to release a basic range of such products soon. Alternatively, a more innovative approach could capitalize on the availability of feedstock from various segments with stable properties to develop new plastics. Given the reduction of single-use plastics, the packaging industry will yield a certain amount of polymers, which allows for the design of new formulations tailored for specific functions. This requires close collaboration between compounders, OEMs, and other stakeholders regarding part design and processability to create the next generation of materials that balance cost-performance with minimized resource usage.
Benvic will be present at the K2025 fair in Düsseldorf from October 8-15, 2025. We invite you to visit our stand in Hall 8A-F12, where we will share innovative ideas for new automotive polymers, driven by our commitment to redesigning plastics. For good.
