Demonstrating "The Material Effect" in action, Covestro announced its participation in the KOLLEKT research project — a publicly funded, interdisciplinary consortium dedicated to developing recyclable product concepts for automotive lighting, mechatronic and electronic components.

KOLLEKT builds directly on its predecessor project NALYSES, successfully completed in 2026, and advances its findings into a comprehensive, end-to-end circular value creation model.

From NALYSES to KOLLEKT: Together with BMW, FORVIA HELLA and other partners from industry and research, Covestro is building on previous work to advance circular automotive lighting.

Focus of KOLLEKT project

KOLLEKT directly addresses "Design for Circularity" at its core — product design optimized for recyclability from the very beginning, complemented by four R-strategies: Repair, Re-Use, Remanufacture, and Recycle.

The project researches how future lighting components can be made repairable, reusable, and recyclable — and what production and logistics processes this requires.

Materials that enable circularity from Covestro

As a key materials partner in KOLLEKT, Covestro contributes its deep expertise in high-performance polymers and sustainable material solutions.

Covestro's Makrolon, Bayblend and Apec materials are among the most widely used plastics in automotive lighting applications, and bringing these materials back into high-quality use cycles is central to the project's ambition.

Covestro's involvement ensures that material properties, recyclate quality, and end-of-life behavior are fully considered from the design stage onward.

Intelligent dismantling and digital twins

A flexible, AI-powered robotic dismantling cell is central to KOLLEKT's technical approach. Using digital product twins and AI-based data processing, the project establishes the foundation for reuse and recycling at industrial scale — enabling precise, largely automated, and material-pure disassembly.

Networked data exchange integrates material, product, and process information in real time, creating a transparent, traceable circular ecosystem.

More about KOLLEKT project

KOLLEKT project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) under the CircularGlowUp funding framework and supervised by the Karlsruhe Project Management Agency (PTKA).

It brings together FORVIA HELLA as coordinator alongside partners BMW, Covestro, Geba, Fraunhofer IEM, Fraunhofer UMSICHT, the University of Paderborn, Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), and SW Maschinenservice.

The project runs from June 2026 to May 2029, with a total BMFTR funding volume of EUR 4.371 million including project lump sums.