BMW launches recycling partnership with Lidl sister company PreZero

Shortly after Volkswagen Group launched its Centre of Excellence for Circular Economy in Zwickau, Germany, BMW is also taking a significant step towards a circular future. In collaboration with PreZero, one of the world’s ten largest waste management companies with a turnover of 3.9 billion euros, BMW aims to develop a business model for end-of-life vehicle recycling to establish a closed material and recovery loop.

The initiative is not explicitly focused on battery-electric vehicles (though one is visible in the press image above), but rather on vehicles of all powertrain types. Recycling end-of-life vehicles is intended not only to benefit environmental protection but also to address key challenges facing the automotive industry: BMW seeks to reduce its dependence on raw materials and make its supply chains more resilient.

“The collaboration with PreZero is another milestone on the road to establishing the circular economy as a genuine business model. For the BMW Group, circularity is already a central element of our corporate strategy and a key driver of CO2 reduction and resource efficiency, ” said Ralf Hattler, Senior Vice President Customer Support and Aftersales BMW Group. “Together with PreZero, we are creating the conditions needed to design a vehicle’s entire value chain in a way that keeps materials and components of the highest quality in the loop for as long as possible. Our goal is to significantly reduce the need for primary materials and make supply chains more resilient.”

The collaboration begins with ‘design for recycling’, meaning BMW, with PreZero’s support, will focus on making its new models even more recyclable. At the same time, end-of-life vehicles will be utilised as a strategic material source within the partnership. Initially, vehicle components are to be kept in the loop for as long as possible through further use – for example, as spare parts (‘reuse’). The next step aims to recover high-quality recycled materials and raw materials for further use through innovative recycling processes, thereby significantly reducing the demand for primary raw materials.

According to the German Handelsblatt, PreZero has significantly expanded its recycling expertise in the automotive sector in recent years through acquisitions and partnerships. For instance, the environmental services provider acquired Re.Lion.Bat Circular last year, a battery recycling company based in Meppen, Lower Saxony. Its facility processes lithium-ion end-of-life batteries from electric vehicles and power tools. Specifically, the batteries are shredded in Meppen, and the materials they contain are separated into plastics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and black mass. However, the black mass is not further processed at the site itself but is instead sent to specialist facilities in Asia and North America.

bmwgroup.com, handelsblatt.com (in German)