Research Project KOLLEKT Advances Circular Economy for Automotive Lighting Components

2026-08-10 02:42:30 Industry

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Demonstrating "The Material Effect" in action, Covestro announced its participation in the KOLLEKT research project — a publicly funded, interdisciplinary consortium dedicated to developing recyclable product concepts for automotive lighting, mechatronic and electronic components. The three-year project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) under the CircularGlowUp funding framework and supervised by the Karlsruhe Project Management Agency (PTKA), addresses one of the automotive industry's most pressing challenges: how to keep materials in use longer, reduce resource consumption, and build genuinely circular value chains.

KOLLEKT brings together FORVIA HELLA as coordinator alongside partners BMW, Covestro, Geba, Fraunhofer IEM, Fraunhofer UMSICHT, the University of Paderborn, Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), and SW Maschinen service. The project runs from June 2026 to May 2029, with a total BMFTR funding volume of €4.371 million including project lump sums.

From Headlamp to Tomorrow's Resource

The automotive industry faces growing pressure from resource scarcity, supply security concerns, and tightening regulatory requirements — most notably the EU End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Regulation. Technological hurdles, cost pressure, and insufficient product recyclability have so far prevented efficient plastics cycles from becoming established at scale. KOLLEKT directly addresses this gap by placing "Design for Circularity" at its core — product design optimized for recyclability from the very beginning, complemented by four R-strategies: Repair, Re-Use, Remanufacture, and Recycle. KOLLEKT researches how future lighting components can be made repairable, reusable, and recyclable — and what production and logistics processes this requires.

Covestro's Role: Materials That Enable Circularity

As a key materials partner in KOLLEKT, Covestro contributes its deep expertise in high-performance polymers and sustainable material solutions — working across the full circular value chain, from supporting circular product design and material concepts through to the evaluation of recycling pathways for polycarbonate. Covestro's Makrolon®, Bayblend® and Apec® materials are among the most widely used plastics in automotive lighting applications, and bringing these materials back into high-quality use cycles is central to the project's ambition. Covestro's involvement ensures that material properties, recyclate quality, and end-of-life behavior are fully considered from the design stage onward — a prerequisite for true circularity, and a direct expression of Covestro's vision of a fully circular economy.

"KOLLEKT is a prime example of how we create value together with our customers and partners — going beyond material supply to co-designing solutions from the very beginning," says Monique Buch, Chief Commercial Officer at Covestro. "By aligning early across the value chain with BMW, FORVIA HELLA and other partners, we can embed circularity directly into product development. That is what true co-creation looks like—and how we turn sustainability ambitions into tangible outcomes."

Intelligent Dismantling and Digital Twins

A flexible, AI-powered robotic dismantling cell is central to KOLLEKT's technical approach. Using digital product twins and AI-based data processing, the project establishes the foundation for reuse and recycling at industrial scale — enabling precise, largely automated, and material-pure disassembly. Networked data exchange integrates material, product, and process information in real time, creating a transparent, traceable circular ecosystem.

Building on Proven Foundations

KOLLEKT builds directly on its predecessor project NALYSES, successfully completed in 2026, and advances its findings into a comprehensive, end-to-end circular value creation model. Early involvement of SMEs, industry associations, and networks — alongside conferences, academic teaching, and publications — ensures that results can be scaled and transferred to other sectors beyond automotive lighting, including electrical and electronics applications.

Advancing Circular Economy Goals

KOLLEKT aligns directly with Covestro's strategic commitment to the circular economy. Covestro continues to expand its portfolio of circular solutions — including its post-consumer recycled Circular Intelligence (CQ) product families like the R, RV and RP material lines. Notably, RV and RP product lines address post-consumer car2car recycling, featuring recycled end-of-life vehicle materials such as headlamps, with third-party certification. The insights generated by KOLLEKT will contribute to meeting EU ELV recycling targets toward 2032 and support automotive manufacturers in fulfilling expected recycled content quotas — without compromising performance or quality. Through its global production and supply network, Covestro supports decarbonization and resource circularity in mobility, truly elevating materials into solutions that matter.

"KOLLEKT is a concrete step toward closing the loop on high-performance polycarbonate in automotive applications," says Guido Naberfeld, Head of Sales and Market Development Mobility at Covestro. "By combining Design for Circularity with advanced recycling technologies and digital traceability, we are demonstrating that sustainability and material performance are not a trade-off. This is how Covestro contributes to meeting the EU's ELV targets and helps the entire automotive value chain transition to a truly circular model."

About Covestro:

Covestro is one of the world's leading manufacturers of high-quality polymer materials and their components. With its innovative products, processes and methods, the company helps enhance sustainability and the quality of life in many areas. Covestro supplies customers around the world in key industries such as mobility, building and living, as well as the electrical and electronics sector. In addition, polymers from Covestro are also used in sectors such as sports and leisure, telecommunications and health, as well as in the chemical industry itself.

The company is geared completely to the circular economy. In addition, Covestro aims to achieve climate neutrality for its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2035, and the Group's Scope 3 emissions are also set to be climate neutral by 2050. Covestro generated sales of EUR 12.9 billion in fiscal year 2025. At the end of 2025, the company had 46 production sites worldwide and employed approximately 17,600 people (calculated as full-time equivalents).