How WEF & GIC are Promoting End-of-Life Vehicle Circularity

Each year, more than 800,000 tonnes of plastic from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) in Europe are lost to landfills or incineration according to the Global Impact Coalition (GIC). 

Despite sustainability commitments across the automotive industry, less than 20% of these plastics are currently recycled. 

The GIC’s Automotive Plastics Circularity (APC) project aims to change this, pioneering new systems to recover and recycle ELV plastics more effectively. 

However, it says success will depend on systemic change across four key areas.

Rethinking the value chain

Unlike metals, which have long-established recycling pathways, plastics from ELVs are often mixed, contaminated and hard to process. 

This has led to their classification as waste, rather than as a valuable resource.

To change this, the GIC emphasises that the industry must prioritise early-stage plastic sorting. 

Instead of shredding entire vehicles and separating plastics later, sorting by polymer type and part function during dismantling can improve the quality and recyclability of recovered plastics.

The GIC APC project, involving eight major companies – BASF, Covestro, LG Chem, LyondellBasell, Mitsubishi Chemical Group, SABIC, SUEZ and Syensqo – hopes to support this approach. 

By working across the chemical industry and with dismantlers and recyclers, the project clusters plastic components by polymer type and keeps these clusters intact along the value chain. 

This leads to cleaner, more recyclable materials, suitable for re-entry into the automotive supply chain.

Enabling circular design

Voluntary action from industry players is a start, but robust regulation is essential to drive investment and scale.

The EU Green Deal's proposed ELV Regulation sets a clear direction, requiring that by 2030, at least 25% of the plastics in new vehicles must come from recycled sources – with a portion originating from closed-loop ELV systems.

To meet these targets, government and industry must collaborate to:

• Standardise collection and dismantling protocols across member states
• Offer incentives for sorting plastics at source
• Fund research into scalable recycling technologies

Effective policy can turn environmental ambition into practical, market-ready solutions. 

New recycling technologies

Traditional recycling methods can fall short when faced with contaminated or degraded ELV plastics. 

However, new technologies are breaking these barriers.

AI-driven sorting systems can now distinguish plastic types with greater precision, making closed-loop recycling of complex materials possible. 

Chemical recycling, which depolymerises plastic back into its molecular components, enables even heavily degraded plastics to be reborn as virgin-quality materials.

Major chemical companies are investing heavily in these methods, with promising results.

When paired with better collection and sorting systems, these innovations make large-scale automotive plastic circularity an attainable goal.

“This collaboration represents a turning point for the industry,” says Charlie Tan, CEO of the GIC.

“Recycling ELV plastics has long been a challenge, with less than 20% of these materials recycled today. 

“By uniting players from across the automotive value chain, from auto makers to dismantlers, sorters, recyclers and the chemical industry, we are connecting the links to close the loop on plastics.”

Making circularity economically viable

Economic viability remains one of the biggest hurdles to circularity. 

Currently, recycled plastics are often more expensive than virgin alternatives. 

Without intervention, dismantlers and recyclers can be left to shoulder the financial burden.

New financing mechanisms could change this. 

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes, like France’s system under the AGEC law, place responsibility for recycling on vehicle manufacturers. 

Centralised hubs for sorting and recycling, as demonstrated in the GIC pilot, offer economies of scale. 

Public-private partnerships can also unlock essential infrastructure investment.

By distributing costs and benefits across the value chain, these models ensure no one actor bears the burden alone.

A growing global momentum

The growing urgency around plastic waste is not limited to the automotive sector. 

Broader partnerships are forming to tackle this crisis across industries and geographies.

“Reaching this 25-nation milestone is not just a celebration of numbers, it’s a testament to the growing global determination to tackle one of the world’s most pressing challenges,” says Clémence Schmid, Director of the Global Plastic Action Partnership at the World Economic Forum.

“These partnerships are not just symbolic, they represent concrete commitments to rethinking how plastics are produced, managed and reused. 

“Together we are charting a path towards a circular plastics economy that benefits people and the planet.”

This global momentum reinforces the importance of cross-sector collaboration and systemic change – principles that lie at the heart of the GIC Automotive Plastics Circularity initiative.

With forward-thinking regulation, investment in technology and shared responsibility across the value chain, the collaboration hopes to reduce plastic waste, cut emissions and drive true circularity.

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