Principle 2
We want to
- preserve resources and use them economically,
- avoid harming the environment,
- keep environmental impact to a minimum.
We are constantly working out solutions to fulfill very different environmental requirements at our development centre in Weissach. These include the recycling of used materials at the end of the vehicle life. Preservation of resources through recycling plays an important role in the design of new vehicles and the choice of materials. Since 1988 all newly developed plastic parts have been labelled in accordance with standards, to enable the plastics to be separated into material types and recycled at a later date.
The legal conditions for recycling are now regulated in detail by the EU Vehicle End-of-Life Directive which was finalised in the summer of 2002. From 2006 all manufacturers must guarantee an 85 percent recycling quota for new vehicles. From 2015 the quota will rise to 95 percent.
The choice of materials and corresponding design enables, for example, up to 87 percent of the