Groups collaborate to put plastics back into vehicles.

A cooperative research project backed by automakers, the plastics industry and the U.S. government is looking to reduce the amount of automotive plastics ending up in landfills and instead divert it back into vehicles. The auto industry's Vehicle Recycling Partnership, the American Plastics Council and the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory unveiled an upgraded pilot recycling unit this month at the laboratory in Argonne, Illinois. Each group will contribute to fund the project's $2 million annual budget for a five-year study using the shredder residue that is left over from automotive scrap yards once the bulk of the iron and steel is removed from cars. From that collection of torn plastics, fabric, copper wiring, and foam, researchers aim to separate out nine different plastics in pure enough streams to make them viable for use in other car parts.