Veolia and Faurecia partner on recycled materials for car interiors

(Reuters) - Veolia and Faurecia have signed a cooperation and research partnership with an aim to use on average 30% of recycled plastics in car interiors by 2025, the French recycling company and car parts maker said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The collaboration, under which recycled plastics will be used in instrument panels, door panels and centre consoles in cars across Europe, will reduce Faurecia's carbon footprint, helping it advance its CO2 neutrality plan, and expand Veolia's product range to vehicle interiors.

"The use of recycled plastics is one of the key challenges for the ecological transformation of the automotive industry ... Today, automotive interiors are mostly made of virgin material," the companies said in the statement.

Veolia, which has recently closed the acquisition of its competitor Suez, will start the production of secondary raw materials at its existing recycling sites in France from 2023.

"Veolia is growing its plastic recycling capacities with continuous investment in the industrialisation and expansion of our existing recycling sites in France and globally, with the objective to reach 1 billion euro turnover by 2025," the company's chief operating officer Estelle Brachlianoff said in the statement.

(Reporting by Dagmarah Mackos, Editing by Louise Heavens)