BMW's Neue Klasse vehicles to use recycled plastic materials starting 2025

The BMW Group — parent company to BMW, BMW Motorrad, Mini, and Rolls-Royce — announced that select models that are to be built from 2025 onwards using the Neue Klasse architecture will feature trim parts made from recycled plastic materials.

Per the automotive firm, the abovementioned material contains around 30 percent recycled fishing nets and ropes. The raw material is proactively sourced at ports all around the world to ensure that it does not end up being discarded in the sea.

The BMW Group has teamed up with Danish company Plastix to develop an exclusive recycling process. The process will see waste that were previously used in the maritime industry become trim parts suitable for the exterior and interior of the BMW Group’s future vehicles.

Furthermore, the new process will allow the recycled plastic materials to be used in both non-visible and visible areas of the exterior and interior of the Neue Klasse models.

“After separation, fishing nets and ropes undergo an innovative process that produces plastic granules. While recycled maritime plastic has so far only been used in the automotive industry in the form of fibers for new vehicle components, this recycled material is now also suitable for the injection molding process for the first time,” the BMW Group said in a press release.

The use of recycled plastic also aligns with the conglomerate’s carbon-neutral goals. The components produced through the exclusive recycling process will have an approximately 25 percent lower carbon footprint than their counterparts that are made from conventionally-manufactured plastics.

In addition, using waste from the maritime industry allows the BMW Group to contribute to the efforts in counteracting ocean pollution.

Photos from BMW Group

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