Volvo plans 25 per cent recycled plastics in cars by 2025
And it's built a demonstrator to show what that could look like
Volvo wants 25 per cent of the plastics in its new cars to be recycled by 2025, revealing a unique XC60 to demonstrate what that might look like.
The XC60 has a centre tunnel made of renewable fibres and plastics made of discarded fishing nets and sailing ropes. Its carpet is made of fibres developed from PET plastic bottles, working with a recycled cotton mix from clothing manufacturer offcuts.
Even the seats make use of recycled bottles, while the under-bonnet sound-absorbing material is made of old Volvo seats.
The XC60 was revealed at the Ocean Summit, a stopover in the Gothenburg Volvo Ocean Race created in partnership with the UN Environment Clean Seas campaign.
“Extensive recycling and reuse of plastic is vital to our efforts to turn the tide on plastic pollution,” said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment.
“Volvo’s move to integrate plastic waste into the design of their next fleet of cars sets a new benchmark that we hope others in the car industry will follow. This is proof that this problem can be solved by design and innovation.”
The news comes after Volvo last month committed to ending the use of all single-use plastics across its facilities by 2019, and earlier announced plans to have climate-neutral manufacturing operations by 2025.