Plastic material recycling as part of scrap vehicle utilization — Possibilities and problems

Abstract

In 10 years time, the quantity of waste plastics accumulated in the Federal Republic of Germany as part of the automobile scrapping process will break through the 200,000 tonne boundary, corresponding to double today's amount.

For many years reference has been made to the problem of endangering old vehicle utilization due to the increased use of plastics in motor vehicles (7). For the time being, it can be clearly said that practical implementation of an effective plastics recycling process will fail due to economical reasons. On the other hand, it is also inappropriate to produce special refuse from shredder residue, presently being dumped, as the result of incineration.

Nevertheless, feasible solutions must be found with regard to recycling the plastic materials from scrap vehicles. This is a primary objective of the Research Association of the Automobile Industry (FAT) in cooperation with its research partners (see Chapter 3.2). Fundamentally, automobile utilization of the future is an international problem since foreign vehicles require reprocessing and the German automobile must not be subject to one-sided restrictions to such an extent that the basis for an automobile manufacturer to achieve sufficient turnover on the world market is destroyed.