LyondellBasell and Audi announce a first time collaboration to help close the loop for mixed automotive plastic waste. Audi is installing plastic seatbelt buckle covers in the Q8 e-tron made using LyondellBasell plastic that supports the sourcing of feedstocks from mixed automotive plastic waste. Plastic components from customer vehicles that can no longer be repaired are dismantled, shredded, and processed by chemical recycling into pyrolysis oil. The pyrolysis oil is then used as a raw material in LyondellBasell’s manufacturing process for the production of new plastics, replacing virgin fossil feedstocks.
With this process, LyondellBasell, Audi, and chemical recycler SynCycle (Next Generation Group and BDI), succeed in recycling a stream of material which today is mostly only suitable for energy recovery.