Jaguar Land Rover trials plastic recycling tech for cars

Jaguar Land Rover trials plastic recycling tech for cars

Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) latest environmental conservation efforts has seen it trialling a new recycle process that converts plastic waste into a new premium grade material that could be featured in its future cars. The company is working with chemical company BASF on the process, and the pilot project is called ChemCycling.

Firstly, the waste plastic is transformed to pyrolysis oil using a thermochemical process. This secondary raw material is then fed into BASF’s production chain (replaces fossil resources), which ultimately produces the “premium grade plastic” that replicates the high quality and performance of ‘virgin’ plastics.

Also, the new material can be tempered and coloured, making it the ideal sustainable solution for designing the company’s next-generation car dashboards and exterior surfaces. Currently, JLR and BASF are testing the material on a Jaguar I-Pace prototype, particularly for its front-end over-moulding to verify that it meets the same stringent safety requirements of the original part.

JLR said in a statement: “We are proactively increasing recycled content in our products, removing single-use plastics across our operations and reducing excess waste across the product lifecycle. The collaboration with BASF is just one way in which we are advancing our commitment to operating in a circular economy.”

Jaguar Land Rover trials plastic recycling tech for cars

The British automaker has also collaborated with Danish textile company Kvadrat to produce sustainable seat options that are just as luxurious. The high-quality material, available initially on the Range Rover Velar and Range Rover Evoque, combines a durable wool blend with a technical suedecloth that is made from 53 recycled plastic bottles per vehicle.

JLR has already met its 2020 target for Zero Waste to Landfill for UK operations. This includes the removal of 1.3 million square metres – equal to 187 football pitches – of plastic from its manufacturing lineside and replacing 14 million single use plastic items in business operations.

Together, these efforts move towards the company’s vision of Destination Zero; an ambition to make societies safer and healthier, and the environment cleaner. The initiative sees continuous innovation to adapt its products and services to the rapidly-changing world, and falls in line with its vision of zero emissions, zero accidents and zero congestion.

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Matthew H Tong

An ardent believer that fun cars need not be fast and fast cars may not always be fun. Matt advocates the purity and simplicity of manually swapping cogs while coping in silence of its impending doom. Matt's not hot. Never hot.

 

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