With the automotive industry driving itself towards a circular and climate neutral future, the use of alternative materials, including those containing recycled content, to replace fossil resources has become more and more commonplace. However, the quality and traceability of such recycled materials are still of a major concern.

In light of this, materials manufacturer Covestro has formed a partnership with China’s leading auto lighting supplier HASCO Vision to build a closed-loop recycling business model that would guarantee the plastics recycled from the manufacturing of automotive lamps are both of high quality and traceable.

A long-standing partner of HASCO Vision, Covestro has for many years been supplying the Chinese company with high-performance plastic material polycarbonates to manufacture automotive lamps.

Covestro and HASCO Vision collaborate to recover used polycarbonate from the production of headlamps.

According to the new agreement signed at Covestro’s booth at the China International Import Expo, Covestro will also join hands with other partners in the recycling industry to retrieve used plastics from HASCO’s manufacturing sites before turning them into high-quality post-industrial recycled (PIR) polycarbonates and polycarbonate blends that HASCO can use to produce new automotive components.

“In line with the fully circular vision of Covestro, we’re thrilled to work with HASCO Vision to pioneer this innovative business model for the closed-loop recycling of post-industrial plastics,” said Lily Wang, Head of the Engineering Plastics segment at Covestro.

The closed-loop recycling of post-industrial plastics is an effective sustainability solution as such recycled materials have “virgin-like” quality, are easily traceable and help reduce the carbon footprint of vehicles compared with conventional fossil-based materials.

"This innovative cooperation between HASCO and Covestro breaks with convention in terms of raw materials supply as it focuses on using post-industrial recycled materials to create a circular economy," said Jinlong Ao, Deputy General Manager and Chief Technology Officer of HASCO Vision.