Closed-loop Plastic Recycling in the Automotive Industry : A Multiple Case Study on Challenges from a Supply Chain Perspective

Sammanfattning

As climate change continues its unprecedented journey, attention has now been directed towards the automotive industry as the European Commission have proposed new regulations to the End-of-life Vehicle Directive, suggesting stricter laws regarding recycling as a strategy towards a circular economy. While a closed-loop recycling system is proposed, circular economy implementations are viewed as difficult and associated with many challenges. However, such challenges have typically been identified on a general level, failing to acknowledge that circular economy and closed-loop plastic recycling is highly contextual. Therefore, closed-loop plastic recycling can benefit from being studied from an industry-specific supply chain perspective. The aim of this thesis is to broaden the understanding of circular economy implementation by aligning an operational supply chain perspective with the legal requirements in the End- of-life Vehicle Directive. To address this aim, the study explored challenges in implementing closed-loop plastic recycling and how they interconnected across an automotive supply chain. This study was conducted as a qualitative multiple-case study involving six cases, representing a supply chain in the Swedish automotive sector. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and an interview form. The data was analyzed through an inductive thematic analysis followed by a cross-case analysis. The findings revealed eight challenges which responded to the areas of: supply chain collaboration, component design, the recycling process, forecasting future material usage, supply and demand, increased costs, material traceability, and the quality of recycled plastics. Moreover, the findings showed how the challenges were interconnected across the supply chain, revealing four general challenges and four challenges relevant to specific supply chain roles. This thesis contributes to literature on circular economy and provides practical implications for automotive supply chain companies involved in closed-loop plastic recycling, as well as policy implications for how the End-of-Life Vehicle Directive could be further developed to support a smoother transition.