Increasing plastic circularity in the automotive sector: supply chain analysis and policy options from the European Union (EU)

The circular economy aims to decouple growth from unsustainable environmental impacts by optimizing resource consumption, minimizing waste and pollution. In the past decade, the European Union has been developing policies to implement this concept in practice. However, realizing a circular economy is a complex process, affected by a multitude of cultural, regulatory, economic, and technical drivers and barriers. To date, a broad gap of empirical knowledge concerning these drivers and barriers remains. This empirical study addresses a fraction of this gap by focusing on the drivers and barriers to recycling in the plastic supply chain within the EU automotive sector. The analysis is based on secondary data from scientific and grey literature, integrated with primary data from a comprehensive consultation of EU industry stakeholders. Results include two main elements: a supply chain map, outlining stakeholder interactions and material flows; a list of 15 barriers and 8 drivers for increasing recycled plastic content in new vehicles, contextualized within the supply chain. From a practice perspective, these results directly contribute to EU circular economy policy, by informing regulatory interventions in in the context of the review of the end-of-life vehicles directive. From a theory perspective, we illustrate how circularity drivers and barriers may be identified at the meso-level using the supply chain as a unit of analysis, while demonstrating how such approach is relevant to inform concrete policy interventions.

BALDASSARRE Brian;  MAURY Thibaut;  TAZI Nacef;  MATHIEUX Fabrice;  SALA Serenella; 

2025-05-21

ELSEVIER

JRC137275

1879-0658 (online),   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC137275,   

10.1016/j.resconrec.2025.108216 (online),