Extrusion International 1-2026

41 Extrusion International 1/2026 From Waste to Value – Recycling Automotive Shredder Residue and Bio-Waste into High-Value Feedstock A new research study by ETH Zurich, in collabo- ration with BASF SE, has investigated an alter- native route for mixed plastic waste streams from end-of-life vehicles: to recycle it alongside biomass. The results show: the recycling of one kg of automo- tive shredder residues with 3 kg of biomass reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 3 kg CO2-eq. as compared to their incineration for energy recovery. As the European Union prepares legislation on end-of- life vehicles, these findings have implications for policy makers. The ETH study follows a gasification pilot project con - ducted by BASF and BEST GmbH/Austria mid of 2025. For the first time, the project in BEST’s pilot plant com - bined the gasification of biomass together with plastic waste from automotive shredder residue. Less waste, new feedstocks, emissions reduced This study shows: Instead of incinerating plastics and biomass to generate electricity and steam, co-gasifica - tion produces steam and synthesis gas, a valuable feed- stock for chemicals. Providing this novel circular raw material to the chemical industry reduces consumption of fossil resources, thus lowering emissions and keeping carbon in the loop. "Closing the carbon loop by plastics recycling is not only beneficial for the climate but also crucial for con - serving resources, an essential step toward a plastics in- dustry that operates within planetary boundaries," says André Bardow, Professor from ETH Zurich. However, to replace fossil feedstocks with alterna- tives made from plastic waste streams and bio-waste, a supportive legal framework is needed that acknowl- edges mixed plastic waste as recyclable and sets long- term targets to society for this replacement. "Ambition in target-setting rather than opt-out and review clauses should be the baseline for policies that allow industries to reach ecological goals. Furthermore, sector-coupling and collaboration across industries is essential to speed up emission reductions," states Prof. Catharina Bening from ETH Zurich. But while legislation already supports gasification of bio-waste - leading to first investments in maritime and aviation fuel - there is no comparable support for recy- cling plastic waste streams via gasification. "It is simply not efficient to operate separate gasification plants for bio-waste and for plastics waste streams. Instead, we call for policy to enable a multi-purpose of the plants through an audited, flexible mass balance approach," concludes Martin Jung, President of BASF’s Perfor- mance Materials division. Using one million tons of plastic waste from end-of-life vehicles reasonably The volume potential for non-fossil feedstock from automotive plastic waste is significant. Research esti - mates that over one million tons of automotive plastic waste is being either incinerated or landfilled in Europe every year. While there are opportunities to sort out more plastic waste (e.g., for mechanical recycling), there always remains a residual mixed plastic waste stream. The research results show that the recycling of this plas- tics waste, alongside biomass, is possible in a multi-pur- pose asset and results in lower CO 2 emissions than via incineration for energy recovery. Due to the high quality of the new circular raw mate- rials stemming from this waste, the manufactured new materials, e.g. plastics, have the quality of new goods and meet the demanding requirements of high-perfor- mance plastics, as they are particularly needed for safe- ty-relevant automotive components. Emissions in this text always refer to greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO 2 equivalents (CO 2 -eq) on a cradle-to-gate basis. BASF SE www.basf.com