Suez Partnership Boosts Renault Recycling Strategy

Renault is boosting its carbon-reducing strategy by teaming with water and waste recycling giant Suez to rescue and reuse waste metal and end-of-life vehicles.

The French automaker hopes the longterm partnership will help it meet carbon-reduction ambitions set out in its “Future is Neutral” industrial strategy.

The strategy, which commits €140 million ($156 million) in a 80:20 split with Renault as the lead owner, aims to provide solutions for all automotive sector players, including automakers, equipment manufacturers, distributors, insurers and consumers.

It intends to tackle every stage in the vehicle’s life cycle, such as using recycled materials for production, reusable, refurbished and remanufactured parts, end-of-life vehicle collection, management and recovery services.

Renault will contribute its operations covering the entire automotive value chain and vehicle lifecycle from design to useful life and end-of-life planning. It expects to draw upon its expertise in automobile eco-design and employ its industrial capabilities at its Refactory in Flins, France, Europe’s first circular economy base specialized in mobility.

Suez will provide its in-depth knowledge of automobile recycling from automakers and equipment suppliers to steelmakers and casters. It also brings its expertise in waste management, such as collection, massification, sorting and material recovery.

Luca de Meo, Renault CEO, says: “Suez’s decision to team up with us in ‘The Future Is Neutral’ is new evidence that coming up with this model was the right move. Our joint investment will allow us to accelerate in order to provide an open circular economy platform that meets the needs of all players in the automotive industry, in growing activities. We are doing this by strengthening existing operations and creating new closed-loop recycling solutions, from car to car.”