Material recovery initiative: Mercedes-Benz teams up with TSR Recycling for circular solutions

In a recent development, Mercedes-Benz has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with TSR Recycling GmbH & Co. KG, signalling a significant stride towards bolstering its circularity strategy concerning end-of-life vehicles, as reported by GlobalData. This strategic partnership underscores Mercedes-Benz's commitment to sustainability and marks a pivotal step in its efforts to enhance recycling and reusability practices within the automotive industry.

This MoU centres around the extraction of secondary materials via the concept of "urban mining." Through this pilot initiative, Mercedes-Benz anticipates delving into the European landscape to uncover the untapped potential of post-consumer materials, specifically focusing on aluminium, steel, polymers, copper, and glass. Collaboratively, the two entities aim to scrutinise the market demand and origins of secondary materials while conducting a comprehensive commercial assessment.

Markus Schäfer, a member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, said: “With our ‘Design for Circularity’ approach, we have considered a 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 per cent by 2030 compared to a conventional approach. We are working with our partners 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.”

The partners are committed to developing initiatives to retain material resources that would otherwise be exported to other sectors and countries. Their goal is to prevent downcycling, a process in which recycled materials experience a decline in quality. For instance, they plan to collaborate with TSR and another Tier 1 supplier to utilise recycled aluminium with an unprecedented 86 per cent post-consumer content. This innovative material significantly reduces CO₂ emissions by 73 per cent.

According to Mercedes, initial press tests for prototype parts have yielded positive results. The process is being evaluated, and Mercedes-Benz expresses its intention to transition this groundbreaking approach into mass production swiftly.