Integrating plastic recycling industries into the automotive supply chain

Abstract

Chains for recycling the plastics used in the automotive industry are complex systems just emerging. In this paper we propose to explain the reasons which have so far prevented these recycling chains from achieving a sufficiently regulated state to make them reliable partners for automotive manufacturers. On the basis of this, and taking recycling polypropylene as an example, we propose to use a dynamic flow model of this chain to identify the critical parameters on which achieving this regulated state depends. The results are at two levels. They establish the major role played by changes in the price of oil (an uncontrollable element but one where economic pressures are tending to increase its benefiting the development of these recycling chains) and the necessity for recycling companies to have a flow of quality input sufficient to saturate their production systems and achieve profitable sales. To achieve these results we intend to explore various solutions. Moreover, our study has shown that the development of the chain is also suffering from the lack of cooperation between those involved and the absence of a global vision of the system (which could have been the role of an official eco-organisation if France had chosen to provide these recycling industries with a body of this type). In our project we have been able to experiment using our modelling system to fill this gap. It proved to be an effective way of creating around it a multi-participant area in which exchanges occurred allowing all the parties concerned to understand the aims and requirements of the other participants and the impact of their own actions. This research has thus resulted in the creation of a multi-party working group continuing to develop this tool.