According to Reuters, Volvo has said that by the year 2025, at least 25 percent of the plastic in its cars will be sourced from recycled materials. For example, recycled plastics can come from fishing nets, bottles, or even straws. The recycled materials are expected to find their way into dashboards and carpets.
The carmaker is already in discussion with plastic producers on how it can best achieve its recycled material plan. Now, Volvo cars consist of roughly five percent recycled plastics, so, boosting that figure by 20 percent in six years is quite a challenge. How will those recycled plastics actually become relevant components? The carpet, for example, will have fibers made from PET plastic bottles.
Other automakers will probably follow Volvo on using recycled plastic because doing so not only generates good PR, but there is a ridiculous amount of used plastic out there. More than eight millions tons of used plastics are dumped into the oceans every year, causing serious damage to coral reefs and outright killing marine life.
