— Car bumpers are converted into higher quality, low carbon recycled polymers for tomorrow’s vehicles
MBA Polymers UK, global leader in plastic recycling, has launched an innovative recycling initiative to efficiently recycle car bumpers which are either damaged or due to be processed by end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recyclers into high quality polymers for use in the automotive industry.
By receiving bumpers from authorised treatment facilities (ATFs), insurers and garages, at two of its UK sites, MBA Polymers UK’s new service offers a range of sustainability benefits, including:
- Slashing the amount of plastic that ends up in landfill
- Reducing the carbon emissions required to produce its materials
- Assisting car makers (OEMs) in meeting strict new recycling targets
- Advancing the automotive industry towards a standardised circular economy
Recycling bumpers directly – rather than reclaiming the polymers following ELV recyclers’ shredding processes – will enable MBA Polymers UK to explore the production of improved performance grades to complement its existing offering to the Automotive sector.
Under the EU’s draft ELV Directive, OEMs are required to ensure that 25% of the plastic used in new cars comes from recycled sources (25% of which must come from ELVs), creating a circular supply chain for the valuable plastics already available in cars on the road today.
MBA Polymers UK, a world leading plastics recycler, produces recycled ABS, PP, FPP, HIPS and HDPE by utilising post-consumer polymers from end-of-life vehicles and electrical goods (WEEE). The sustainable materials it delivers achieve carbon savings of between 75% and 86%, making them the first recycled plastics to carry the Carbon Trust's Lower CO2 label.
Its recently-launched recycled ABS contains 95%+ recycled content (versus an industry-average closer to 70%) and has been UL listed, providing manufacturers with confidence about the stability and quality of this game-changing sustainable material.
In 2023, MBA Polymers UK continued its ambitious mission to create a network of recycling facilities across the UK with the opening of a fourth site in Wimblington, Cambridgeshire. The new facility single-handedly increases MBA Polymers UK’s capacity to recycle and process material by 35% and joins sites in Worksop, Dover, and Duddeston, in the West Midlands. The Worksop and Wimblington sites will now accept car bumpers for processing.
Paul Mayhew, General Manager at MBA Polymers UK, said:
“We are always looking to find new ways to create the sustainable materials manufacturers actually need – in as efficient and environmentally friendly way as possible. The aim of our car bumper recycling initiative is to create a circular ecosystem to enable end of life bumpers to go back into the bumpers of tomorrow.
“We believe that recycling the bumpers, before to the end-of-life vehicle recycling process, will allow MBA Polymers UK to harness the intrinsic properties of the material and produce a high-performance polymer to go back into visual exterior parts.
“This will directly help car manufacturers as they face up to the implications of the EU’s ELV Directive but will also provide a new sustainable route for this material, future-proofing the operations of ATFs, insurers and other links in a supply chain that is increasingly transitioning to net-zero.”