Led by the Global Impact Coalition, the pilot project will revolutionize plastics recycling and enable circularity in the automotive industry
Syensqo will participate in a groundbreaking pilot project from Q2-Q3 2025 to address the critical challenge of recycling plastics from End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs). The initiative, which is aligned with Syensqo’s ongoing efforts to enable circularity in its own operations and value chain, is led by the Global Impact Coalition (GIC), a CEO-led collaborative platform enabling the chemical value chain to achieve a net-zero chemicals future.
Every year, over 800 million metric tons of ELV plastics are incinerated or landfilled in the European Union alone, resulting in significant economic losses and environmental impact. The GIC pilot project aims to address this issue, enabling the automotive industry to significantly increase the rate of closed-loop recycled plastics, by transforming ELV plastic waste into valuable resources.
Syensqo is committed to advancing circularity across our businesses and the value chain, but we recognize there is only so much we can achieve alone. To make tangible progress, we must work collaboratively. Joining forces through the GIC allows us to pool resources, share knowledge and tackle common challenges more effectively, generating actionable insights that can redefine our industry.
Taking place at sites in the Netherlands and Germany, the pilot project will be used to test and optimize a new approach to dismantling, sorting and recycling plastic fractions, helping to build a business case for broader industry adoption, starting in the EU. One hundred ELVs will be dismantled into plastic parts, which will be shredded and sorted into 10 different polymer groups. These will then be recycled by Syensqo and the other chemical companies taking part in the project.
To ensure the pilot’s success, the seven project partners–BASF, Covestro, LyondellBasell, Mitsubishi Chemical Group, SABIC, SUEZ and Syensqo–have engaged dismantlers, shredding companies and sorting facilities, creating a robust and interconnected network. By pooling demand for a wide variety of ELV polymers, the initiative aims to demonstrate the economic feasibility of large-scale closed-loop recycling systems and help overcome longstanding challenges, such as high manual processing costs, inefficient sorting methods and limited recovery expertise.
This collaboration represents a turning point for the industry. 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.
Syensqo is a science company developing groundbreaking solutions that enhance the way we live, work, travel and play. Inspired by the scientific councils which Ernest Solvay initiated in 1911, we bring great minds together to push the limits of science and innovation for the benefit of our customers, with a diverse, global team of more than 13,000 associates in 30 countries.
Our solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices and healthcare applications. Our innovation power enables us to deliver on the ambition of a circular economy and explore breakthrough technologies that advance humanity.
Learn more at www.syensqo.com.
The Global Impact Coalition (GIC) is a CEO-led platform driving the chemical value chain toward a circular, net-zero future. Incubated at the World Economic Forum, GIC turns sustainability challenges into commercial solutions through cross-industry collaboration. By co-developing and scaling new technologies and business models, GIC members tackle circularity & emissions reduction challenges that no single company can solve alone.
For more information, visit GlobalImpactCoalition.com or LinkedIn @GlobalImpactCoalition.
Downloads
Our sustainability strategy
Currently, more than 80% of our innovation pipeline is focused on creating sustainable solutions. We aim to enhance the adoption of circular practices by having 18% of our sales enabling a circular economy by 2030.