To fasten the buckle. Recycle, reuse, reprocess. While the focus is on producing electric trucks and the batteries that power them, manufacturers are continuing to advance their thinking about sustainable mobility.
At a press event for trucking journalists in Gothenburg, Sweden, Lars Martensson, Director of Environmental Affairs and Innovation at Volvo Trucks, spoke about sustainable mobility from a global perspective that goes beyond reducing pollutant emissions and spoke about the concept of circularity.
By this we mean products that are reused, remanufactured or refurbished more frequently. A type of “zero waste” principle in which truck manufacturers are responsible for the environment of the vehicles they produce until the end of their useful life.
Circular thinking begins long before trucks or even their components are produced. Factors such as the raw materials required to produce the various parts are taken into account. “It all starts with the product. We need to use non-fossil materials, plant-based rubber and plant-based plastic to be less dependent on fossil materials,” explains Martensson.
Circularity is a key strategic issue for Volvo Trucks, which will also be crucial for society as a whole.
“It is important to avoid waste. More emphasis needs to be placed on resource management. We gain resources, use them and then throw them away. We have to find ways to recycle and reuse resources,” emphasizes Lars Martensson.
Lars Martensson, Director of Environmental Affairs and Innovation at Volvo Trucks, talks to North American trucking journalists. (Photo: Volvo Trucks)
European regulations are increasingly requiring manufacturers to develop products that offer a better circular economy. “There is currently a proposed regulation in Europe – the End-of-Life Vehicle – that would require car and truck manufacturers to improve the circular economy of their products,” informs Lars Martensson.
As a manufacturer, Volvo Group – which includes Volvo Trucks – would be responsible for ensuring that its products are collected, dismantled and recycled at the end of their useful life.
“This means that if you own an old truck in Europe and want to dispose of it, we as a manufacturer should ensure that it is possible to hand the vehicle over to a collection point, we should ensure that the vehicle is transported.” We would be in favor of that Dismantling and recycling are responsible.”
In this way, the European Union creates a circularity to ensure that everything produced can be reused in different ways.
This conveyor belt used in mines is made of steel that does not come from fossil sources. (Photo: Volvo Group)
Europe also requires a “battery passport,” which documents not only how the battery was made but also its entire useful life to ensure it can be reused, remanufactured and recycled.
Mr. Martenssen gave some examples of what Volvo is doing in the circular economy, including a mining load carrier with a chassis made of non-fossil steel and produced using electricity and hydrogen.
Volvo Trucks believes that there is a lot of room for the use of recycled materials not only in metals, but also in polymers such as plastic and rubber.
The manufacturer believes that a VNR Electric could eventually be made from 95% recycled materials.