Plastic is the hardest part of a car to recycle, and there is more of it every year. A modern vehicle carries roughly 150 to 220 kilograms of plastic, spread across more than twenty different polymer types, and separating them is what makes this the fraction where recycling targets are won or lost.
Why there is so much of it
Plastic replaced metal wherever weight could be saved: bumpers, dashboards, door cards, fuel tanks, light housings, trim and a growing share of under-bonnet components. By weight it is only around a tenth of the car. By volume it is most of the interior you can see and touch.
Why it is the difficult fraction
Metals separate cleanly after shredding, with magnets for steel and eddy currents for aluminium. Plastics do not. Different polymers look alike, weigh alike, and cannot be melted together, so a mixed stream of twenty polymer types is worth little until it is sorted. Add paint, fillers, flame retardants and bonded fabrics, and much of it has historically gone to energy recovery rather than recycling.
That is exactly what the vehicle recycling rules lean against. At least 85% of each vehicle must be reused or genuinely recycled, with energy recovery only permitted to bridge the last stretch to 95%, which forces investment in plastic sorting rather than incineration.
What gets recycled well, and what does not
| Component | Prospects |
|---|
| Bumpers | Good. Large, removable, and usually a single polymer, so they are often taken off whole and reprocessed |
| Battery casings | Good. Consistent material with an established recycling route |
| Interior trim | Mixed. Multiple polymers, fixings and bonded fabrics make separation harder |
| Foams and textiles | Poor. Typically the largest share of what cannot be economically recycled |
Where recycled car plastic ends up
Sorted automotive plastic is reprocessed into pellets and returns as wheel arch liners, battery trays, drainage products, street furniture and, increasingly, new interior components, as manufacturers design parts to take recycled content. The cleaner the input stream, the closer to a car it can get.
Where this fits in scrapping a car
Plastics travel with the vehicle through the recycling process: large single-polymer parts are removed before shredding where it pays to do so, and the rest is separated from the shredder residue afterwards. Together with glass and foam, it makes up the difficult quarter that the 85% recycling target exists to police.
Common questions
Does plastic content affect what my car is worth as scrap?
Slightly, and downward. Scrap value is driven by metal weight, so a car that is more plastic and less steel carries a little less metal value. See what scrap cars are currently paying.
Should I remove plastic parts before scrapping?
No. The vehicle is priced complete, and removing parts reduces the offer by more than the parts are worth to you.
Are electric cars better or worse for plastic recycling?
Broadly similar for interior plastics, though battery casings and cable insulation add new streams that recyclers are still scaling up for.
Is burning plastic for energy recycling?
No, and the rules treat it separately. Energy recovery counts toward the 95% recovery target but not the 85% recycling target, which is what keeps it a last resort rather than the default.
Find out what your car is worth
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Get my pricePlastic content figures are industry estimates and vary by model and year. Recovery and recycling targets are set by regulation 18 of the End-of-Life Vehicles (Producer Responsibility) Regulations 2005. Last checked 28 August 2026. See also how to scrap a car and tyre recycling.
