From scrap to sustainability: This is how BASF turns car waste into new parts

BASF and its partners have developed two pilot projects designed to recycle polyamides, one of the most common and problematic plastics in the automotive industry. The initiative could drastically reduce plastic waste, carbon emissions, and the microplastics polluting soil and water across the planet.

Polyamides, found in components like engine covers and oil pans, are notoriously hard to recycle. Every year, the automotive industry discards around 441 pounds (200 kilograms) of plastic per vehicle at the end of its life. Most of that ends up in landfills or incinerators, releasing harmful carbon emissions.

To tackle this, BASF developed a chemical recycling method known as depolymerization. The process breaks polymer chains down into their basic building blocks, monomers, which can then be purified and reused in new car parts. Unlike traditional mechanical recycling, this method restores plastics to their original quality.

BASF tested the technology with the ZF Group, supplying recycled polyamide for use in a Mercedes-Benz chassis component. Tests confirmed that the material performed on par with virgin plastic, proving that fully recycled car parts can meet the demands of modern engineering.

The second pilot project focuses on automotive shredder residue, the leftover mix of materials after metal and glass are recovered from old cars. This waste is especially difficult to process. Yet BASF and its partners discovered a way to isolate and purify the polyamide within it, transforming it into PA6 compounds (Nylon 66) suitable for reuse.

The team successfully produced chain guide rails for Mercedes-Benz, validated by German manufacturer Pöppelmann, whose Production Technology leader, Steffen Meyer, described the approach as “a practical solution for plastics that mechanical recycling can’t fully recover.”

Early life-cycle assessments show that both recycling methods could significantly cut carbon emissions by avoiding fossil-based raw materials and traditional plastic waste treatments. If adopted industry-wide, this could reshape how the automotive sector handles end-of-life vehicles and dramatically reduce its environmental footprint.

Experts say the implications go beyond cars. A reduction in automotive plastic waste would mean fewer microplastics contaminating soil, rivers, and oceans, and ultimately, less entering human bodies.

While large-scale adoption remains uncertain, BASF’s breakthrough marks a critical step toward a circular economy, one where materials are reused instead of discarded. For an industry struggling to go green, it’s a glimpse of a more sustainable future on four wheels.

Read more on Honda unveils recycling technology to give old car plastics new life