- Mercedes-Benz announces MoU with TSR Recycling to substantially advance its circularity strategy
- MoU targets to close the materials loop for end-of-life vehicles through market analysis and access to material flows
- Further step towards achieving aim of 40 percent secondary raw materials in Mercedes-Benz passenger car fleet by 2030
In a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with TSR Recycling GmbH & Co. KG, Mercedes-Benz is aiming to substantially advance its circularity strategy in relation to end-of-life vehicles.
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The MoU relates to the recovery of secondary materials through so-called “urban mining”. With this pilot project Mercedes-Benz says it expects to gain a deeper understanding of the potential of post-consumer materials in Europe, focusing on steel, aluminium, polymers, copper and glass.
The two companies plan to analyse the demand for and source of secondary materials and conduct a commercial evaluation.
Markus Schäfer, Mercedes board member, said: “With our ‘Design for Circularity’ approach we consider circular economy right from the start. The goal is to decouple primary resource consumption from growth by keeping as many raw materials as possible in the cycle.
“We expect this to reduce our use of primary resources in our new vehicle fleet by 40 percent by 2030 compared to a conventional approach. Together with our partners, we are working to increase the share of secondary raw materials in our vehicles and further improve process efficiency. We see great potential in urban mining as a cost-effective way to conserve valuable resources through the circular economy.”
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By GlobalDataThe partners intend to develop activities that will provide access to material flows that would otherwise be exported to other sectors and countries. The aim is to avoid so-called downcycling, whereby recycled materials are subject to a loss of quality. An example is a planned cooperation with TSR and another Tier 1 supplier for recycled aluminium. This first-of-a-kind material has an 86-percent content of post-consumer recycled aluminium and reduces CO₂ emissions by 73 percent. First press tests for prototype parts have been successful, Mercedes says.
Evaluation is ongoing and Mercedes-Benz says it want to put this new process into series production as soon as possible.
