The production of vehicles is one of the most resource-intensive industries. 10 % of the overall consumption of plastics, 6 million tonnes/year is used by the European vehicle industry1. Increase the use of recycled plastics in vehicles is one of the key challenges for sustainable transformation of the vehicle industry as it plays an important role in saving resources and reducing greenhouse emissions. The main goal of this project was to contribute to increased use of recycled plastic in the Swedish vehicle industry. Volvo Cars goal is that 25 % of the plastic used in cars should be recycled or biobased by 2025. The goal will most probably be reached according to Volvo Cars. Volvo group has the goal to be fossil neutral, which requires recycled material in the truck components. The recycled plastics evaluated in the project came from both post industrial waste (PIR) and post consumer waste (PCR). Rondo Plast, Polykemi, Albis, Mocom, Biesterfield, Borealis, Sabic, Total and LG Chem have supplied recycled and virgin plastics tested in the project. The plastics we have focusing on in this project were polypropylene (PP) plastics (homo- and copolymer) and PC/ABS plastic compounds. Thus, these plastics are most used in vehicle components and recycled PP plastics are more accessible than the other plastics that can be used in vehicles. Analysis and evaluation of recycled plastics have been performed by RISE. Also, long term ageing and recyclability studies have been performed. A study to upgrade PP plastic recycled from packaging (PCR) with additives from DOW and Rondo Plast were performed.

The mechanical and thermal properties of injection-molded recycled polyethylene were studied, specifically with respect to the influence of large-scale washing and melt-compounding of polyethylene from post-consumer packaging waste. Three types of materials were studied: those taken after sorting, after sorting and washing, and after sorting, washing, and melt-compounding, including melt-filtration, all from a large-scale material flow. The materials were further processed on a laboratory scale and compared. The results showed that large-scale washing significantly reduced thermo-oxidative stability, as well as molar mass and melt viscosity. The degradation during large-scale washing made the material susceptible to further degradation in the subsequent extrusion compounding, as shown by the differences in compounding at 240 and 200 °C using a high-shear screw configuration. The compounding parameters, screw configuration, and compounding temperature did not influence the stiffness and strength of the unwashed and large-scale-washed materials, but the elongation-at-break varied, specifically, with the increased temperature. Washing had an influence on the mechanical properties as well, and the unwashed material provided molded samples with stiffness measurements of approximately 550 MPa, whereas the large-scale-washed material provided stiffness of approximately 400 MPa. The strength measurements were approximately 15 MPa for samples made of both unwashed and large-scale-washed material, and the elongation-at-break measurements were between 50 and 150%. The large-scale-washed and compounded materials had very different mechanical properties, with stiffness measurements of approximately 320 MPa, strength of approximately 20 MPA, and elongation-at-break of approximately 350%. The significantly different mechanical properties of the large-scale-washed and compounded materials were likely due to the melt-filtration included in the compounding through the removal of metal and rubber particles, and they may also have been due to the compatibilizing and stabilizing additive used in the compounding. © 2022 by the authors.