SP Sustainable Materials Work Group
working to move the automotive industry towards a circular materials economy.
SP’s Sustainable Materials Work Group is working to move the automotive industry towards a circular materials economy. The work group promotes collaboration amongst automotive manufacturers and suppliers to increase use of sustainable practices, processes, and materials in the production and content of vehicles, and to incentivize sustainable innovation.
Examples of key initiatives include,
- Sustainable Content. Working to develop a strategy to use collective leverage of industry to increase demand for sustainable content and incentivize innovation.
- Sustainable Materials Definitions. Working to develop a set of common terms and definitions for sustainable materials within the automotive industry.
Recycled & Renewable Materials
How are recycled and renewable input materials being utilized by leading companies in the automotive industry? Here are just a few examples of the types of recycled / renewables materials different companies have utilized as shared in SP members’ public sustainability reports.
- Soybean-based foam used in vehicle seating and headliners
- Post-industrial garment clippings made of cotton and synthetic fibers used in door panel insulation, floor silencer and floor mats
- Bio-based plastics — plastics derived either wholly or in part from plant materials — used in seat cushions
- Composites using castor oil, kenaf, wheat straw, rice hulls, coconut and tree fibers, coffee chaff
- Post-industrial scrap material used as insulation and sound-deadening materials
- Recycled plastic bottles used as the PET component of the seat material
- Recycled plastic bottles used in engine insulation
- Recycled cardboard used in sound-dampening material in headliner
- Recycled plastic caps and shipping aids used in radiator shrouds
- Test tires shredded and used in air and water baffles
- Post-industrial textile waste—blue jeans and towels included— used in hood and dashboard insulation
- Recycled plastic license plate brackets
- Recycled plastic bottles used for underbody shields on cars and SUVs, and wheel liners on trucks
- Recycled plastic bottles used in carpets, wheel liners and fabrics
