PressClub United Kingdom · Article.
Revolution in the car industry: Parts made from recycled fishing nets.
Tue Sep 13 12:00:00 CEST 2022 Press Release
+++ Unique recycling process creates a recycled plastic material from ocean waste +++ CO2 emissions are reduced by 25 percent compared to conventionally manufactured components +++ Ocean plastics used to make floor mats in the BMW iX and the BMW X1 +++ The BMW Group aims to use thermoplastics made from 40 percent recycled material in its new vehicles by 2030 +++
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Helen Wilson
BMW Group
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Note: This press release is a 1:1 copy of the original issued
by BMW headquarters in Germany. No adaptations have been made to
cater for the UK market.
Munich. In a first for the automotive industry, the
models of the NEUE KLASSE due to be launched from 2025 onwards will
feature trim parts made of plastic whose raw material contains around
30 percent recycled fishing nets and ropes. This raw material is
proactively sourced at ports all around the world to ensure that it
doesn’t end up being discarded in the sea.
In an exclusive recycling process, waste material from the
maritime industry is used to produce trim parts suitable for the
exterior and interior of future vehicles. The resulting components
have an approximately 25 percent lower carbon footprint than their
counterparts made from conventionally manufactured plastics.
Conserving resources, reducing the carbon footprint, avoiding
ocean pollution.
The BMW Group is working with
different approaches to use plastic waste from the maritime industry
as a raw material for vehicle components in order to conserve valuable
resources and reduce CO2 emissions. This form of recycling
makes it possible to reduce the need for petroleum-based primary
plastics and at the same time counteract ocean pollution.
Recycled nylon waste forms the basis for a synthetic yarn from which
the floor mats in the BMW iX and the new BMW X1, for example, are
made. This material, known as ECONYL, is made from discarded fishing
nets well as worn floor coverings and residual waste from plastics production.
Only at the BMW Group: Maritime plastic waste used to produce
visible trim parts.
In a new initiative developed in
cooperation with the Danish company PLASTIX, the BMW Group is taking
the recycling of maritime plastic waste a step further. After
separation, fishing nets and ropes undergo an innovative process that
produces plastic granules. While recycled maritime plastic has so far
only been used in the automotive industry in the form of fibres for
new vehicle components, this recycled material is now also suitable
for the injection moulding process for the first time. The raw
material for the components manufactured in this way can consist of
around 30 percent maritime plastic waste.
This creates additional application possibilities for recycled
plastics. The components manufactured using the injection moulding
process are trim parts that will be used in both non-visible and
visible areas of the exterior and interior of the NEUE KLASSE models
from 2025. Overall, the BMW Group has set itself the target of
increasing the proportion of secondary materials in the thermoplastics
used in new vehicles from currently around 20 percent to an average of
40 percent by 2030.