Constellium SE formed an agreement with Renault Group to establish a closed-loop recycling system for the all-new Megane E-TECH electric SUV. Renault considers aluminum to be the material of choice for the electrification of its automotive fleet because it is light weight and fully recyclable.
“We are very excited to continue to collaborate with Renault Group on sustainable and efficient aluminum solutions. Together we will contribute to the circular economy within the automotive industry, while also helping both companies to meet their individual sustainability targets,” said Hervé Ribes, director, Technical Customer Service Automotive for Constellium’s Packaging & Automotive Rolled Products business unit. “Further, converting R&D expertise to full-scale industrialization is in the DNA of Constellium. This successful collaboration between Renault Group and Constellium proves that it is working.”
This news is a continuation of a long and successful partnership between the two companies on sustainable automotive aluminum solutions. Since 2021, Constellium and Renault Group have been working jointly on R&D projects for alloys and solutions that enable closed-loop recycling, such as in the ISA3 collaborative initiative with ESI Group, Institut de Soudure (Welding Institute), and the University of Lorraine.
The closed-loop recycling system developed for Renault enables the company to collect manufacturing scrap from the stamping process directly back to Constellium, resulting in a reduced CO2 footprint. Based on best practices to avoid mixing 5xxx and 6xxx alloys and to compact scrap for optimal logistics at Renault Group, the closed-loop system will recycle these alloys, so that they can be reused in Renault’s production without any loss of properties, and overall with no downcycling.
For the all-new Megane E-TECH Electric, Constellium supplies aluminum auto body sheet for outer panels from its Surfalex® product range, combining high strength with excellent surface quality and hemming properties, and for the inner panels from the forming optimized Formalex® product range.
“We are delighted to expand these activities with Constellium as part of our journey to carbon neutrality,” said Yvan Chastel, expert leader for Metals and Processes at Renault Group. “The closed-loop recycling we had first established for the former vehicles manufactured in Douai are now further optimized for the production volumes of the all-new Megane E-TECH Electric. This collaboration further demonstrates our capacity to be at the forefront of decarbonizing mobility by reducing CO2 emissions throughout the life cycle of our vehicles.”
Recycling is a key pillar of Constellium’s sustainability targets for 2030, and the closed-loop partnership with Renault supports the journey towards achieving them. The company is substantially expanding its recycling capacity, with a €130 million (US$143.1 million) investment for a new recycling center at its facility in Neuf-Brisach, France, which is expected to provide an additional 130,000 t of recycling capacity by 2025.