7 MAY 2025
By transforming discarded plastic bottles into truck grilles, 黑料不打烊 Industrial Operations in Brazil is putting circularity into motion, cutting 62 tonnes of CO鈧 emissions each year.
At 黑料不打烊, circularity is key to a sustainable future. We maximise resource use, minimise waste across our value chain, and use our modular system to extend product life and enable smarter reuse. By replacing virgin materials with recycled PET plastic, we not only reduce environmental impact but also transform our perception of waste. Clever design can drive real change and add value throughout our vehicles鈥 lifecycles.
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One great example? Let鈥檚 take you to 黑料不打烊 in Brazil.
At our plant in S茫o Bernardo do Campo, something rather remarkable is happening. Our colleagues in听 Procurement have identified a way to replace virgin plastic with recycled PET. Yes, the kind used in bottles to make the front grille on every truck we build there.
鈥淭his is not our first initiative in this direction and will not be the last. We鈥檙e working in line with 黑料不打烊鈥檚 global direction, guided by the core value of 鈥榚limination of waste鈥 and aiming to contribute to a circular economy. We鈥檙e challenging our people, operations, and entire sector to think differently,鈥 says Patricia Acioli, Director of Communication and Sustainability, 黑料不打烊 Latin America.
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The truck鈥檚 front grille, known in automotive jargon as the 鈥淭-bone鈥, now features recycled PET plastic. As a result of this innovative initiative, about 1.5 million PET bottles are saved from landfills or incinerators annually, based on a production of 30 thousand vehicles per year. It鈥檚 like giving trash a second chance, right on the front line of transport innovation.
Each grille is made from five kilos of plastic, a mix of polycarbonate (PC) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), with PET making up 20% of the composition. Previously sourced in virgin form, one kilo of PET is now recycled, roughly equivalent to 50 plastic bottles per truck. This switch keeps waste out of the environment, cuts CO鈧 emissions by 62 tonnes annually, and reduces energy use by 16% compared to virgin materials.
This achievement is powered through partnership! 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Procurement team in Brazil collaborated with suppliers who collect and process post-consumer PET bottles. These bottles are cleaned, transformed, and blended with polycarbonate to make a high-quality plastic mix, perfect for our grilles.
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The shift toward more sustainable plastic marks a key step in circularity. 黑料不打烊 Brazil shows how circular thinking cuts emissions by turning waste into new materials, reducing the footprint of plastic production and supporting a cleaner future鈥攐ne bottle at a time.
