Volvo to make car interiors from old Fairy Liquid bottles. But it’s not Blue Peter.

Volvo has decided it is aiming to have at least 25 per cent of the plastics in every newly launched Volvo created from recycled plastics by 2025.

Those of you old enough to remember will know it’s perfectly possible to make almost anything in the world of Blue Peter from a Fairy Liquid bottle and a bit of sticky-backed plastic. Even a new Volvo.

Admittedly, Volvo are being a little more high tech about their approach to using recycled PET bottles (that’s polyethylene terephthalate, in case you needed to know), but they have declared an aim to be using 25 per cent recycled plastics in all their newly launched cars from 2025. Which chimes well with the Zeitgeist.

To prove what can be done with old plastics in new cars, Volvo has revealed a specially built XC60 showcasing the replacement of several of its plastic components with recycled materials.

In a one-up on Blue Peter, they’ve made the XC60’s dash out of old fishing nets and maritime ropes, fitted carpets containing fibres made from old PET bottles and recycled cotton mix from clothing manufacturers’ offcuts, as well as seats containing PET fibres too. They’ve even used old car seats to make the sound insulation under the bonnet.

Martina Buchhauser, Volvo’s Procurement VP, said:

We already work with some great, forward-thinking suppliers when it comes to sustainability. However, we do need increased availability of recycled plastics if we are to make our ambition a reality. That is why we call on even more suppliers and new partners to join us in investing in recycled plastics and to help us realise our ambition.

It’s all part of Volvo’s sustainability plans, with the end of single-use plastics by 2019 and a move to complete electrification by 2025, as well as climate-neutral manufacturing in the same timeframe.

All very noble.