Recently, the European Parliament's Committees on Environment and Internal Market have finalized their policy recommendations for the EU automotive sector. This policy will cover the entire lifecycle of vehicles, from design to end-of-life disposal.  
 

The proposed regulation mandates that, one year after its enactment, it will apply to cars and vans (with a five-year grace period for buses, heavy-duty vehicles, trailers, motorcycles, mini-cars, quad bikes, and mopeds).  

 

The Parliament requires that within six years of the regulation taking effect, every new vehicle must contain a minimum of 20% recycled plastic.  

 

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**Challenges in Automotive Plastic Recycling Under the EU’s New Rules**  

 

According to the EU’s End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive and related industry studies, PET (polyethylene terephthalate) accounts for approximately 10%-15% of automotive plastics, primarily used in interior components such as upholstery, airbags, seat fabrics, carpets, and soundproofing materials. Many automakers have already adopted recycled PET—for instance, 89% of the seat fabrics in Audi’s new A3 are made from recycled PET, while BMW and Toyota have also increased the proportion of recycled PET in their interiors.  

 

As the EU’s new rules on recycled plastics in vehicles take effect, automakers face a core challenge: how to efficiently source high-quality recycled PET. Traditional PET recycling methods struggle to meet the stringent performance requirements of automotive components while remaining energy-intensive and costly.  

 

In this context, enzymatic PET recycling technology offers the automotive industry a more sustainable "Car to Car" solution.  

 

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**Enzymatic Recycling Enables Efficient Closed-Loop PET Recovery for Automotive Use**  

 

The enzymatic recycling technology employs highly efficient "Yuantian Enzymes" to break down discarded automotive interiors (such as airbag fabric, seat belts, and other PET materials) into monomers (rPTA and rEG) under ambient temperature and pressure, bypassing the conventional "dual-enzyme, two-step process." These monomers are then repolymerized into recycled PET (NEOPET™), achieving an "upcycled" loop from "vehicle → fiber → vehicle" and avoiding downcycling.  

 

Currently, Yuantian Bio has completed degradation validation for industrial-grade automotive airbag filaments. This milestone confirms that end-of-life airbags can be efficiently recycled and reused in new airbags or other automotive components, helping automakers meet recycled plastic quotas.  

 

Moreover, the rPTA produced via enzymatic degradation has received Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certification, making it the first bio-based recycled solution globally to achieve this recognition. This provides the automotive industry with a traceable and sustainable source of recycled plastics.  

 

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**Driving the Automotive Industry’s Transition to a Circular Economy**  

As EU policies tighten, demand for recycled PET will continue to rise.  

 

Yuantian Bio has already established a 300-ton/year demonstration production line and plans to expand to 5,000 tons to meet automakers’ urgent need for critical recycled materials. Additionally, this technology can integrate with automakers’ eco-design strategies—such as optimizing the degradability of seat fabrics and carpets—to further enhance PET recycling efficiency.  

 

The EU’s new regulations are reshaping the global automotive supply chain, and enzymatic PET recycling offers automakers a viable compliance pathway.  

 

Yuantian Bio’s innovative solution not only helps reduce plastic pollution but also advances the automotive industry toward "zero-carbon manufacturing." As scaled production progresses, enzymatic PET recycling may become the core driver of a circular economy for automotive plastics.