Each year, four to six million cars are scrapped in the European Union—resulting in the loss of valuable ressources. The EU End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation is intended to ensure that these materials are recovered and reused in new vehicles in the future. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now analyzed a process developed within the Car2Car research project that enables plastics to remain within the recycling loop. The study shows potential climate benefits as well as the possibility of meeting upcoming EU requirements.
When a vehicle is taken out of service, it is quickly reduced to its basic components: batteries, wheels, catalytic converters, and airbags are removed, and fluids are drained. What remains is sent to a shredder. The result is a heterogeneous mix of metals, textiles, plastics, foams, and composite materials. Extracting recyclable plastics from this mixture is complex, but it is becoming increasingly important for automakers and suppliers, as the EU is currently planning a new regulation on the treatment of end-of-life vehicles. Once the regulation comes into effect, the share of recycled plastics used in new vehicles that comes from post-consumer recycling is to be gradually increased to 25 percent.
A portion of this recycled content must come from "closed‑loop recycling," meaning recycling plastics from end‑of‑life vehicles back into new vehicles. According to the EU proposal, this share should account for at least 20 percent of the required recycled content. "At first glance, that may not sound like much, but around 200 kilograms of plastic will be generated per end‑of‑life vehicle in the future," says Magnus Fröhling, Professor of Circular Economy and Sustainability Assessment at TUM Campus Straubing. "In addition, plastics recycling has played only a minor role in the automotive industry so far, meaning we are still at a very early stage in this regard."
Tested at industrial scale
In a study, Fröhling and his team examined to what extent the proposed recycled content quotas could realistically be met in the future. Their work builds on results from another research group within the Car2Car consortium. That group focused on so‑called refuse‑derived fuels—mixtures of shredded plastics, textiles, and rubber residues generated during vehicle dismantling and shredding.
Today, these residual materials are predominantly incinerated in industrial facilities, generating greenhouse gas emissions in the process. The research team developed a sorting process in which the residues are further shredded, screened, and then sorted using sensors operating in the mid‑infrared range. The process was tested on more than 400 end‑of‑life vehicles with different powertrain types and produced plastics recyclates that could potentially be reused, if additional processing steps are applied.
Combining pragmatism with ambition
Using this dataset, Fröhling's team developed a material flow model to investigate how factors such as the extent of vehicle dismantling, vehicle composition, and the newly developed sorting process affect the proposed EU quotas—and what climate benefits could be achieved. In some scenarios, the improved sorting process could already meet the automotive closed‑loop recycling quota of 3 percent required by the EU for the year 2035. In addition, the sorting process could reduce greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise result from incineration by up to 29 percent.
However, Magnus Fröhling emphasizes: "Our experiment had certain limitations, as all vehicles came from the same manufacturer and were of a similar age. Nevertheless, we consider the results a success, because at this stage the key is to find a pragmatic entry point into a more sustainable automotive industry. This will require multiple approaches that do not start only at end‑of‑life. Vehicles will need to be designed differently, and in some cases alternative materials or more easily recyclable components will be necessary. I am convinced that there is significant potential if we approach this with a healthy balance of pragmatism and ambition."
