October 4, 2024 14:05
Renault, the French automaker, has sold a 20% stake in its subsidiary, The Future Is Neutral, to Suez, a leading recycling and waste management company, to boost efforts for a closed-loop recovery of automotive materials, also known as "car-to-car" recycling. Simultaneously, both partners will inject €140 million into the company to expand its operations.
“Suez’s decision to team up with us in The Future Is Neutral is new evidence that we made the right move when we came up with this model,” said Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault Group. “Our joint investment will allow us to accelerate toward our goal: to provide an open circular economy platform that meets the needs of all players in the automotive industry in growing activities. We are doing this by strengthening existing operations and creating new closed-loop recycling solutions, from car to car.”
"Securing secondary raw material supplies is one of the key challenges the automotive sector has to address over the coming years," added Sabrina Soussan, CEO of Suez. "Our expertise in waste recycling and recovery will enable us to support the sector’s transformation as it transitions toward more circularity and reduce its reliance on virgin raw materials."
Founded by Renault two years ago, The Future Is Neutral provides comprehensive circular economy solutions for the automotive supply chain. These range from recycling plastic and metal material to reintroducing them into production, to reusing repaired or reconditioned components, and offering end-of-life vehicle collection and management services. Its activities are based at the Refactory in Flins, France, where it collaborates with the subsidiary Gaia. Together with Suez, the company also operates Indra, which processes end-of-life vehicles in France through more than 370 approved centers, and Boone Comenor, which focuses on recycling metallic waste from the industry.
Renault notes that about 11 million vehicles are scrapped each year in Europe. Utilizing these resources allows the recovery of usable components and materials to be recycled, thereby limiting the need for natural resources.
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