The last time the North American plastics industry met for NPE, Faurecia was known as a global auto supplier based in France with a big footprint in interior trim and injection molding.
Since then, it purchased lighting maker Hella, added an emphasis on next-gen cars such those powered with fuel cells and changed its name to Forvia. In 2022, Forvia created Materi'Act to boost its sustainability efforts by developing materials for auto applications with increased recycled content and reduced CO2 emissions.
"As part of Forvia's Scope 3 objectives, we plan to integrate 70 percent of recycled plastics into all our automotive interior products by 2030," said Leo Mazurek, Materi'Act program director.
"Materi'Act has a direct role in achieving this target, and our focus is to secure feedstock sources globally to ensure a strong supply and support all customers now and in the future."
In February, it formed joint venture Materi'Act Dallas with PCR Recycling, marking its first production facility in North America, expected to begin its first production in the region later this year.
"This partnership guarantees us a local source of recycled feedstock supply to meet the growing need for sustainable materials across various industries in the region," he said.
As part of that growth in North America, it headed to its first NPE.
Q: What kinds of companies are you connecting with at NPE?
Mazurek: We are targeting companies from all segments of the value chain, starting with feedstock partners. To meet the growing demand of post-consumer recycled plastics, Materi'Act Dallas is working hard to expand our feedstock partnerships to remain competitive and secure supply.
Most importantly, we will meet with existing and potential customers across all industries, including automotive, consumer durables and construction. We also look forward to connecting with companies to support our digital transformation — assisting with our formulation advancement, energy usage and other factors to keep our plant state-of-the-art.
Q: What are you hoping to hear from suppliers and customers in Orlando? What do you need to hear to influence future business decisions and decide who Materi'Act will work with going forward?
Mazurek: Materi'Act's primary goal is to help the industry reduce CO2 emissions, and we know this is increasingly important for all industries.
We know that having a common goal will be crucial as we start to see, and hopefully influence, developments on regulations related to recycled plastics in the U.S.
Q: Automakers historically have used very meticulous standards in material selection, meaning that it can take a long time to get approval for materials and they are hesitant to swap out materials. What has been your experience so far with getting OEMs interested in using new content and higher levels of post-consumer resin?
Mazurek: Materi'Act has the advantage of a long history in automotive as part of Forvia. In fact, one of our key materials, biocomposite NAFILean, is already on more than 9 million vehicles worldwide and has been in the market for more than a dozen years.
We see growing interest from OEMs globally and in the U.S. for sustainable materials, as they work toward their own carbon neutrality road map. ... We believe this demand will only grow as OEMs start to consider the value and feasibility of equipping their vehicles with recycled and bio-based polymers without any compromise in design, quality or performance.
In the U.S., we are also engaged with several OEMs on pre-development activities. While I can't share more details today, hopefully hope soon we'll have more news to share about advancements with North American OEMs.
We also understand the importance that transparency in our sourcing is to our customers, which we achieve through our ... digital product passport. This passport enables advanced traceability on all products in our portfolio — from the emission factor, type of recycled material, type of biomaterial, batch number and recyclability factor. This is a critical aspect of our decarbonization commitments to the market.
Q: Where does Materi'Act come into play in Scope 3 discussions?
Mazurek: We are dedicated to helping companies reduce their Scope 3 indirect emissions. Our primary objective is to provide materials with an up to 85 percent reduction in CO2 emission factors compared with existing materials. This commitment encompasses sustainability throughout the entire supply chain, from feedstock acquisition to the end application.
We meticulously factor in the integration of our materials within the final products and systems, emphasizing lightweight solutions, modular architectures, product upgradability and recyclability.
Materi'Act equips the Renault 5 E-Tech with our NAFILean-R product on the instrument panel. This material offers 73 percent CO2 emissions reduction together with 20 percent weight saving without compromising on the stringent specifications for resistance, crash safety and cabin air quality.
Q: How important is it to find a reliable resource chain for post-consumer resins or ocean-bound plastics so Materi'Act doesn't fall victim to claims that its products are "greenwashing?"
Mazurek: We perform a rigorous due diligence process to ensure our science-based targets will be met before entering into a supply agreement.
In March, we revealed a complete cockpit interior where we replaced virgin materials on the door panels and instrument panel with a deep blue engineered experimental compound made of plastic material collected by Plastic Odyssey and oyster shells. This project was possible thanks to the partnership between Plastic Odyssey and Forvia Foundation.
Plastic Odyssey is an NGO that supports local communities to collect, clean, treat and recycle ocean-bound plastics. We partner with companies that are committed to sustainability, and we match their expertise in recycling with our expertise in refining, adapting formulations, compounding and post-processing capabilities.
We also have various joint ventures and agreements beyond Materi'Act Dallas that support our goal to localize feedstock sourcing and compounding processes with local partnerships.
These partnerships reflect our established presence in Europe, our acceleration in North America, and our entry into China — all working toward solidifying Materi'Act's global reach with local agility.