Jaguar Land Rover to use plastic waste in next-gen interiors

Jaguar Land Rover has pledged to use sustainable leather produced using plastic waste in its next-generation vehicles.

Future Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles will feature trim and floor mats made from Econyl, a regenerated nylon material produced by Italian synthetic fibres firm Aquafil. The material has also been used in the production of clothing, sportswear and watch straps.

Econyl is produced from a combination of recycled industrial plastic, fabric offcuts from clothing firms and fishing nets recovered from the farming industry and abandoned in the ocean. 

The salvaged materials are treated in a chemical plant and broken down into a raw material, before being turned into yarn. The waste products of that process, including metallic materials and copper sulphate, are sent elsewhere for recycling.

According to Jaguar Land Rover, the recycling process Aquafil uses in the production of the material reduces the global warming impact of nylon by 90% compared with material produced from oil. That means producing 10,000 tonnes of Econyl saves 70,000 barrels of crude oil and 65,100 tonnes of CO2 equivalent compared with the same amount of non-recycled material.

The introduction of Econyl is part of efforts by Jaguar Land Rover to offer a range of material with the “same luxurious feel” as its traditional interiors, but with reduced environmental impact. Doing so leads to the firm’s efforts to reduce its carbon emissions to net zero.

The new Econyl fabric is joined by a number of other alternative options available in Jaguar Land Rover vehicles. These include a textile made from eucalyptus in the Range Rover Evoque, and Kvadrat, a wool/suede cloth partially made from recycled plastic bottles, available in the Evoque, Range Rover and Jaguar I-Pace.

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