Porsche is working on turning hard-to-recycle parts into eco-foam for use in steering wheel rims
Porsche claimed a few years ago that 70 percent of the 911s produced going back to the 1960s were still on the road. Now it’s working on a new recycling initiative to ensure that even those cars that do reach the end of the line can still help get your blood pumping and your fingers tingling on a twisty backroad.
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Recycling is nothing new in the car industry. End-of-life vehicles are full of valuable metals that can be re-used. It’s what to do with all the other stuff that’s the problem. Besides their metal content cars contain lots of plastic, foam and paint, stuff that isn’t so easy to repurpose.
What Happens After The Shred?
Currently, when car components are sent through an industrial shredder, you’re left with something called automotive shredder residue (ASR). This is basically trash and is “thermally recycled,” which is a fancy way of saying it’s burned. This does generate energy but it’s not exactly green.
Porsche wants to increase the amount of recycled content in its cars, so it teamed up with BASF and BEST Bioenergy and Sustainable Technologies  to look at new ways to treat ASR and incorporate it into new vehicle builds. With the help of bio-based raw materials like wood chips, the new chemical recycling process uses gasification technology to turn the plastic waste into a synthesis gas at high temperatures. Chemical expert BASF then uses this gas to create new plastic.
For the pilot study, Porsche used BASF’s polyurethane to make the foam for a batch of three-spoke sports steering wheels. The foam isn’t 100 percent made from recycled material, there’s still some conventional, dirty fossil fuel plastics in there. but it’s a step in the right direction.
Porsche hasn’t confirmed when the techniques might be applied, but if I ever scrape together enough money for a new 911 Carrera I’ll have my fingers crossed that there’s a bit of scrap GT3 RS in there somewhere.
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Chris is a seasoned automotive journalist with over two decades of experience. He has worked… Read full bio

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