Post-consumer recyclates for the automotive industry22.08.2024

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Post-consumer recyclates for the automotive industry


The compounder and distributor from Thuringia is expanding its portfolio to include PCR-based recyclates with approval for the automotive sector. This enables processors to meet prescribed recyclate quotas.
WIS Kunststoffe, Breitungen, has been involved in professional plastics recycling for over 25 years and has increasingly focused on high-quality applications in recent years. Processors are now increasingly focusing on the CO2 footprint of plastic products. “This can be reduced particularly efficiently through the use of post-consumer recyclates (PCR),” emphasizes authorized signatory Daniel Römhild. “We can also offer our customers a CO2 calculation to clearly show the savings when using recyclates compared to virgin materials.”
However, processing and ensuring consistently high material quality is anything but trivial. This is particularly true for recompounds that are fed from the post-consumer material stream. While post-industrial goods are usually available unmixed and without impurities, post-consumer waste, for example from the Yellow Bag or other material streams, must first be laboriously sorted and washed before it can be recompounded.

Investing in more sustainability
Römhild explains: “We have invested extensively in our machinery and our analysis laboratory in recent years and now also produce PCR-based recompounds with guaranteed properties for the automotive industry. The energy required for this is generated 100% sustainably by the recently installed in-house photovoltaic system. The knowledge we have gained over many years about high-quality products in other industries, such as cosmetics, household, gardening and other technical applications, has helped in the development of this new product range. With our materials, processors can simultaneously achieve the recyclate quota required by regulations and be sure that they are processing a material that meets the agreed specifications at all times.”

 

The high-quality PCR materials from WIS offer many application possibilities in automotive engineering. 
Currently available are PP, PBT, ABS, PC/ABS, PC, various PAs and TPEs based on PCR, which meet the world's most relevant standards for plastics in automotive engineering, both for the interior and for body parts. WIS Kunststoffe offers various modifications for these base polymers with glass fibers or talcum as well as flame-retardant properties. Materials filled with carbon fibers are also possible. Odour-optimized grades are available for use in interiors, which can be tested in advance in the in-house laboratory.
With the new range for the automotive industry, WIS Kunststoffe is continuing on its chosen path of offering plastics processors plastic compounds based on post-consumer material streams that are of such high and consistent quality that they can be used as a proven alternative to virgin materials in many applications. This is the result of years of research projects with various universities on the development of materials based on recycled materials, which should meet the same requirements as virgin materials.

The planned draft legislation requires fixed recyclate quotas in a growing number of application areas, which will increase in the future. For processors, the use of recyclates is therefore becoming increasingly unavoidable. In general, PIR material has been used successfully in the automotive industry for years. In the event that the end-of-life vehicle directive also stipulates a fixed proportion of plastics from the closed loop in the future, which can only be met with material from the PCR, WIS Kunststoffe already has options for meeting this new requirement profile with its new recyclates.
Portfolio continues to grow

Römhild explains: “We have many years of experience in the production of high-quality recyclates. We are now putting this to good use for processors in the automotive sector. We will continuously expand our portfolio of climate-friendly PCR-based compounds. We can also optimize our recompounds for specific applications at the customer's request. There are currently only a few certified PCR-based recompounds on the market, especially for the automotive sector. The transition from PIR to PCR is a challenge that we are happy to take on.”

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WIS Kunststoffe GmbH
Nordstrasse 5
98597 Breitungen
Tel.: +49 (0) 36848 / 868-0
Fax: +49 (0) 36848 / 868-22