As the Jaguar XE celebrates its first full-year of sales, ‘REALCAR’, the pioneering recycled aluminium project that contributes to the awarding winning saloon’s aluminium-intensive body has reached a significant milestone.

Jaguar Land Rover has reclaimed over 50,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap, the weight of 200,000 XE body shells, back into the production process during 2015/16, preventing more than 500,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere by not using primary aluminium material.

The figures are a result of project ‘REALCAR’ which involves 11 UK press shops implementing a closed-loop, segregating waste aluminium scrap so that it can be sent back into production to be re-melted into recycled aluminium sheet for use in Jaguar Land Rover vehicles.

The Jaguar Land Rover-led research project, part funded by Innovate UK, also saw the development of a recycled aluminium-based alloy RC5754 which can accept a higher percentage of the recovered scrap. In 2014, the Jaguar XE became the first car in the world to use this innovative high-strength aluminium alloy, developed by project partner Novelis.

Aluminium recycling requires up to 95 per cent less energy than primary aluminium production and has huge sustainability benefits.

REALCAR is part of Jaguar Land Rover’s circular economy strategy to improve resource efficiency across the business.