Peugeot announces green initiative

PSA Peugeot Citroën has unveiled an action plan to limit the carbon footprint of its vehicles during their service life.

The group plans to increase its use of green materials in the polymers used to build the cars to 20 per cent by 2011. This will include the use of natural fibres such as linen and hemp, non-metallic recycled materials and biomaterials that are produced using renewable resources rather than with petrochemicals.

Peugeot’s cars are currently made up of 70 per cent metal, five per cent miscellaneous materials, five per cent fluids with the remainder plastics.

Peugeot hopes its initiative will use fewer fossil-fuel plastics and increase the use of raw materials from renewable sources. In addition to reducing CO₂, it claims the change will make the parts lighter and promote plastics recycling within the industry to reduce the potential impact of end-of-life vehicles.

The use of bio-materials is still at the research stage in the automotive industry. To speed up the use of these materials, the industry has set up scientific partnerships as part of research groups bringing together laboratories, chemical firms and parts suppliers.

The company believes that as a result of its plan, 85 per cent of all of its vehicles can be reused or recycled, and a further 10 per cent could be used for energy recovery. The initiative will also focus on existing vehicles with green materials being integrated during their production life. The group’s engineering teams are working with suppliers to implement the changes.