MBA Polymers launches scheme to ‘directly recycle’ car bumpers

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”.

MBA Polymers noted that by receiving bumpers from  treatment facilities, insurers, and garages at two of its UK sites, it will be cutting down the amount of plastic that ends up in landfill or incineration.

It also notes that the initiative will reduce the carbon emissions required to produce its materials and assist car makers in meeting strict recycling targets.

Under the EU’s draft ELV directive, for example, manufacturers are required to ensure that 25% of the plastic used in new cars comes from recycled sources.

This will directly help car manufacturers

• Paul Mayhew, general manager, MBA Polymers

‘Circular ecosystem’

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.”

MBA Polymers

MBA Polymers UK is a plastic recycler that produces recycled ABS, PP, FPP, HIPS and HDPE by using post-consumer polymers from end-of-life vehicles and electrical goods.

According to the company the 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.