Headlights made from old tires

Headlights made from old tires

The aim of the collaboration is to advance the circular economy in the plastics value chain and in the automotive industry. Used tires are liquefied through chemical recycling and then further processed into basic chemicals and high-purity polycarbonates. These can then be used in various automotive applications, from headlights to grilles. "Circular economy requires collaboration. This cooperation with our partners Neste and Borealis shows what possibilities we have," says Guido Naberfeld, Senior Vice President, Head of Sales and Market Development Mobility at Covestro. "We are creating opportunities to produce new car parts from old tires. In doing so, we support our customers in the automotive industry and address a question that is being discussed more and more frequently throughout the value chain: How can high-performance materials be combined with recycled materials?"

As part of the collaboration, Neste processes liquefied used tires into a high-quality raw material for the production of polymers and chemicals and supplies it to Borealis. Borealis processes the raw material produced by Neste into the basic chemicals phenol and acetone. Covestro, in turn, uses these materials to produce polycarbonates. The proportion of recycled ingredients is allocated to the end products via mass balancing according to ISCC Plus. The first products from the collaboration are already available as each partner has produced the first batch of their respective project contribution. In addition to polycarbonates, the project partners also see polyurethanes as possible end products. These could also be used in parts of the vehicle interior. The companies emphasize that the possibilities of expanding such developments should be considered when, for example, setting ambitious goals for future EU regulations, such as the End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation. “We show how important collaboration across the value chain is to give new value to waste,” says Thomas Van De Velde, Borealis Senior Vice President Base Chemicals. “This project can serve as a blueprint when it comes to establishing the circular economy in the area of ​​plastics in cars,” says Jeroen Verhoeven, Vice President Value Chain Development for Polymers and Chemicals at Neste. "It shows how very high-quality plastics can be produced from low-quality waste materials. This is good news for the polymer and automotive industries as well as for the environment."