Obtaining post-consumer recyclate from end-of-life vehicles with solvent-based plastics recycling

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We have reached an important milestone in plastics recycling and, together with Audi, we have successfully piloted the sorting of plastics from end-of-life vehicles. This will make it easier for car manufacturers to comply with the requirements of the European Vehicle Directive. This directive is currently being revised and stipulates that in future, 25% of the plastic weight in new vehicles must consist of post-consumer recycled plastics, with a quarter of this coming from end-of-life vehicles.

Car mirror remnants and various recyclates

This is how the challenging process of sorting plastics from end-of-life vehicles, which contain a high proportion of composite materials and black components, works:

  • Valuable thermoplastics such as PC/ABS are enriched to approx. 80-90% from shredder residue fractions using mechanical processes and laser spectroscopic sorting.
  • The material is further purified using the solvent-based recycling process developed by us to recover a high-purity recyclate. This process uses the CreaSolv® solvent formulations jointly developed by Fraunhofer IVV and CreaCycle. CreaSolv® is a registered trademark of CreaCycle GmbH.
  • The recyclate is then compounded with virgin material and additives, for example, to form a PC/ABS with a high PCR content, which even meets the stringent requirements for reuse in vehicle interiors.

You can find out more about the recycling of PC/ABS blends in the article “Successful Pilot Test - Physically Recycled Post-Consumer Recyclates from End-of-Life Vehicles” which appeared in issue 3/2025 of Plastics Insights magazine.

However, the solvent-based recycling process can do much more: It can also be used to process a wide variety of plastic waste from the packaging, electronics, construction, and textile industries into high-purity plastic recyclates.

Take advantage of our expertise in plastics recycling – we would be happy to assist you!

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