Faurecia and Veolia join forces to use recycled plastics in automotive interiors

Faurecia, company of the Group FORVIA, and Veolia have signed a cooperation and research agreement to jointly develop innovative compounds for automotive interior modules, aiming to achieve an average of 30 percent of recycled content by 2025.

Through this partnership, the two companies will accelerate the deployment of breakthrough sustainable interiors solutions implemented in instrument panels, door panels and center consoles in Europe. Veolia will start the production of these secondary raw materials at its existing recycling sites in France starting from 2023.

The use of recycled plastics is one of the key challenges for the ecological transformation of the automotive industry as it plays an important role in reducing CO2 emissions and improving the environmental performance of the car. Today, automotive interiors are mostly made of virgin material. 

The strategic partnership will leverage the companies’ complementary competencies across sustainable compound formulations, stringent automotive architecture requirements, sourcing and innovative treatment of industrial and post-consumer plastic waste.

A leading player in recycling, Veolia has been providing polypropylene compounds to the automotive industry in France for over 5 years. This collaboration project with Faurecia will allow Veolia to expand its automotive product range to vehicle interiors.

In 2011, Faurecia was the first automotive supplier to introduce a complete range of bio-composite cockpit solutions with NAFILean®. More than a decade later and in around 13 million vehicles, these products’ CO2 footprint is 28 percent lower than that of conventional all-plastic counterparts.