Improving the Recyclability of Mobility Plastic Parts

As global warming becomes a critical issue, reducing CO2 emissions has become a worldwide challenge. The mobility industry is taking various measures, with the promotion of recycling automotive parts being one of the key initiatives. However, when it comes to plastics, even in Europe, which is an advanced region in terms of environmental conservation efforts, the recycling rate remains low and is a subject of concern.

 

This article will focus on plastics used in mobility and explain the legal regulations and trends in the mobility and related industries aimed at improving recyclability.

▼ Contents

EU ELV Regulations

In Europe, the End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive was established in 2000 with the aim of effectively utilizing resources and reducing environmental impact through the disposal and recycling of vehicles. However, the recycling rate for plastics from end-of-life vehicles has been low at 19%, which has been a point of concern. In response, the European Union (EU) is upgrading the ELV Directive and moving towards the introduction of enforceable ELV regulations to promote plastic recycling.

Under the ELV regulations, automakers will be required to adopt designs that facilitate recycling from the vehicle design stage. Additionally, from 2031, it will be mandatory for new cars to use at least 20% recycled plastics, of which 15% must be derived from end-of-life vehicles.

Importance of Monomaterialization

There are several factors that make recycling mobility plastic parts difficult. Many mobility plastic parts are made by integrating multiple different materials and types of plastics to achieve high performance and efficient assembly, making separation and disassembly for recycling challenging.

The inclusion of unspecified composite plastics also complicates mechanical recycling, leading to quality degradation and variability in recycled plastic parts.

To improve the recyclability of plastic parts, it is important to design them with disassembly in mind and to construct parts using a single type of plastic, known as monomaterialization.

Why Polypropylene Monomaterialization is Gaining Attention

Polypropylene (PP) is widely used in various applications, from household appliances and miscellaneous goods to food packaging materials, due to its excellent physical properties, processability, and cost performance. It maintains performance in high-temperature environments, is impact-resistant, relatively lightweight, and thus suitable for mobility parts, accounting for nearly 40% of the plastics used in automobiles. Moreover, PP has lower CO2 emissions during production and minimal degradation after recycling, making it a suitable material not only for enhancing the recyclability of mobility plastic parts but also for achieving the ultimate goal of reducing CO2 emissions.

Nissha’s Efforts Towards Monomaterialization

In response to this trend, Nissha has developed new film decoration products compatible with PP resin. PP resin decorated molded products are formed by using PP as the base material and sandwiching a pre-printed PP film using gravure printing. This method allows for the expression of diverse designs, including texture, on the surface of 3D-shaped molded products. Compared to painting, film decoration not only emits less CO2 but also offers a broader range of color and shading expressions that cannot be achieved with paint. Additionally, with light transmission design ^*1, it can be utilized for lighting and display areas.