With the global vehicle fleet expanding, tens of millions of cars are scrapped each year, containing large volumes of recoverable interior materials. As interiors evolve toward intelligent, electronic, and integrated designs, their increasing complexity presents new challenges for recycling and processing.
To address these issues, Streamline Eco Tech has developed an innovative multi-stage shredding technology and customized recycling solutions. These systems help global ELV dismantlers enhance material recovery efficiency while reducing processing costs by 15–25%, injecting new momentum into the automotive circular economy.
Global Context and Current Situation of Automotive Interiors
Automotive interiors have evolved from simple constructions to highly sophisticated systems. Early designs inherited features from carriages, with exposed metal rivets and untreated wooden frames.
As the automotive industry advanced, interior design underwent several transformations: refinement around 1959, initial electrification by 1965, ergonomics and comfort in 1998, and since 2007, integrated and technological styling driven by electrification and autonomous driving.
Modern interiors now represent a major portion of a vehicle’s value. A typical passenger car contains 200–300 kg of interior materials, including dashboards, seats, steering wheels, door panels, headliners, and carpets.
These materials—ranging from plastics, fabrics, and leather to composites—are diverse and complex. The addition of smart displays and sensors in electric vehicles further complicates recycling processes.
Major Interior Types and Recycling Challenges
Automotive interior components can be categorized as follows:
- Dashboard Systems: Main dashboard, glove box, and center console—mainly made of PP/ABS engineering plastics.
- Seat Assemblies: Covers, foams, and frames—comprising fabric, leather, polyurethane foam, and metal structures.
- Door Panels: Include panel body, armrest, and storage pockets—mainly plastic and fabric.
- Roof Systems: Headliners, sun visors, and sunroof components—often made of composite fibers.
- Carpets and Acoustic Insulation: Floor mats and sound-damping pads—made of textiles and polymer foams.
Recycling challenges include:
- Material diversity, making sorting and separation difficult;
- Complex joining methods(adhesive bonding, welding, clips) hindering efficient disassembly;
- Presence of hazardous substances, such as heavy metals, posing environmental risks if mishandled.
Main Types and Technical Features of Interior Shredders
Various shredding systems have been developed to meet specific recycling demands:
Single Shaft Shredder
Equipped with a hydraulic pusher and adjustable output size, this shredder resists tangling and clogging. It uses a motor-driven rotor to break interior plastics into small fragments, ideal for lightweight polymer materials.
Dual Shaft Shredder
Uses two counter-rotating blades for high-efficiency shearing and tearing. With anti-wrap protection and imported electrical components, it delivers high torque, stable operation, low noise, and energy efficiency—suitable for bulky and rigid components.
Multi Stage Shredding System
Integrates coarse and fine shredding into a stepwise process, typically including conveyors, dust collectors, and control systems. This configuration enables automated operation, effective material separation, and reduced noise and dust emissions.
Table 1. Performance Comparison of Common Interior Shredders
| Type | Capacity | Lähtökoko | Applicable Materials | Key Advantages |
| Single Shaft Shredder | 5–8 t/day | 20–40 mm | Plastics, leather | Low maintenance, anti-jamming |
|
Dual Shaft Shredder |
10–15 t/day | 20–60 mm | Textiles, composites, rigid parts | High torque, efficient shredding |
|
Multi Stage Shredding System |
15–25 t/day | Customizable | All interior materials | High recovery rate, automation |
Multi-Stage Recycling and Material Recovery Process
The recycling of automotive interiors via multi-stage shredding is a systematic process enabling high-value material recovery.
- Pre-Treatment– ELVs undergo dismantling to remove batteries, engines, and fuel tanks before extracting interior components such as seats and dashboards.
- Shredding and Separation– Materials are crushed in multiple stages, followed by magnetic, air, and eddy-current separation to isolate metals, plastics, and rubbers.
- Material Regeneration– Sorted materials are reprocessed: plastics are washed, melted, and pelletized into recycled resin, while fabrics and leather fibers are reused in acoustic or filling materials.
Industry tests indicate that multi-stage shredding can achieve over 90% material recovery, particularly for plastics and metals.
Streamline Eco Tech’s Customized Solutions
With extensive experience in solid waste management, Streamline Eco Tech provides tailored solutions for automotive dismantling enterprises.
Its modular multi-stage systems combine pre-sorting, shredding, and fine separation units for efficient, scalable resource recovery. Each system includes anti-wrapping blades and intelligent control for stable, safe operation.
Optional remote visual monitoring enables real-time operational oversight, minimizing downtime and improving throughput.
Looking ahead, as the “interior–recycling–regeneration–reapplication” life cycle becomes more complete, Streamline Eco Tech’s solutions will help partners reduce resource consumption and carbon emissions—paving the way for a truly circular automotive economy.
In China, one dismantling plant adopting Streamline Eco Tech’s full system now produces recycled plastic granules from shredded interiors, which are supplied to manufacturers for new automotive components—achieving a true “car-to-car” recycling loop.