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The increased use of recycled resins can create a dilemma for automotive designers. On the one hand, there is a growing initiative to increase recycled materials content on vehicles, globally. On the other hand, traditional methods of recycling polymeric materials -both thermoplastics and thermosets - can lead to degradation of engineering, mechanical, processing, and / or aesthetic properties of the resin. In an era where quality rules, this situation forces designers to accept a much lower percentage of recyclate than they might otherwise wish to use or risk unacceptable property loss in molded parts - something no automaker can “afford ” for long. Hence, a valuable feedstream of materials (polymers) often ends up destined for a landfill once many consumer products are broken down and more easily reusable or recyclable materials are salvaged. As a case in point, each passenger car built globally contains an average of 15 - 20 kg of nylon polymers.

For many automakers around the world, there is a strong desire or need to show an increasing amount of post-consumer-recycle (PCR) content in their vehicles, especially for polymeric materials. But finding PCR polymers that do not suffer from losses in physical, mechanical, and aesthetic properties has been difficult. Hence, for critical and safety-related applications, the maximum allowable recycled content necessarily has been kept low, and truly “green” (100%-recycled) applications have been quite limited in these materials. This has been especially true for the family of nylon thermoplastics, which are often used in applications with either safety and / or aesthetic requirements. Since each passenger car built globally uses an average of 15 - 20 kg of nylon polymers, there is strong incentive to find a way to increase PCR content in components using these materials without losing properties. Fortunately, a new technology has been developed for nylon 6 resins to solve this problem.