Fiat’s Grande Panda is the industry-first car to use Lapo Compound’s Lapolen Ecotek, a polyAl-based compound recovered from used beverage cartons. BP&R gathers the ins and outs of Tetra Pak’s role in this project and the scope of the collaboration.
Fiat
1. The Fiat Grande Panda’s components are made with Lapolen Ecotek. Could you explain what it is and its properties?
Currently, carton packages collected for recycling are sent to paper mills, which recover the fibre and separate the polyAl (the remaining mixture of polymers and aluminium). These raw materials are reused to make new products. PolyAl is a stable, homogeneous and high-volume feedstock compared to other recycled plastics. It’s also colourable, offering design flexibility, with a shimmering effect created by the recycled material’s aluminium content.
Lapolen Ecotek is a polypropylene-based compound with polyAl, a blend of polyethylene and aluminium recovered from used beverage cartons, produced and marketed by Lapo Compound.
2. Why did Fiat choose Lapolen Ecotek as opposed to other plastic materials, and what car components was it used on?
Lapo Compound worked with Fiat to ensure the material was competitive in quality and price. Fiat chose the material for its shimmering effect and because Lapo Compound was able to precisely match the desired shade of blue. Lapolen Ecotek is used inside the plastics of the car’s interior, including the central console, dashboard, interior front and rear door panels.
3. What role did Tetra Pak play in this project?
Fiat Automobiles and Lapo Compound are part of Tetra Pak’s cross-industry initiative to expand the end market for recycled materials from beverage carton recycling. Tetra Pak invests over €40 million annually in capital and operating expenditures to expand its collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure, collaborating with stakeholders across the recycling value chain. Part of this collaboration involves exploring and expanding commercial applications for recycled polyAl with compound manufacturers and final users. One of these manufacturers is Lapo Compound.
4. Why do you think it’s particularly important to incorporate recycled materials in car manufacturing?
The use of recycled polyAl in the Fiat Grande Panda aligns with the European Commission’s End-of-Life Vehicles Proposal, which targets 25% of plastic used in vehicles to come from recycled materials. This regulatory direction is expected to drive broader demand for recycled materials like polyAl across the automotive industry.
Keeping materials in use requires more than just recycling. It depends on creating viable, large-scale markets for recycled content.
5. Seeing the benefits Lapolen Ecotek has brought to the automotive industry, do you think it could be trialled in other sectors?
Fiat’s use of the polyAl material in the Fiat Grande Panda proves that it can be used on a large scale by the automotive industry. Lapo Compound is conducting trials to use Lapolen Ecotek in outdoor furniture and factory floors.
Tetra Pak has recently collaborated with Schoeller Allibert to launch a new recycled transport crate. Made from up to 50% polyAl from used beverage cartons with raw materials from other recycled streams, these warehouse crates don’t use any virgin materials. However, they still meet high performance and durability standards while offering a more sustainable and cost-competitive alternative to conventional offerings. They’re currently undergoing rigorous quality and durability tests. Once validated, they’ll gradually replace over 50,000 units at the global spare parts distribution centre in Sweden.
In Italy, the company has seen another promising application in transportation pallets. The Noè pallet, developed by CPR System and Lucart, is primarily made of recycled polyAl. The pallets are recyclable, offering a closed-loop solution that supports circularity in supply chains. The Noè pallet was adopted by Italian retailer Coop in 2023, initially making up 3% of their total number of pallets in use. In 2024, Coop expanded the use of the polyAl pallet tenfold to 31% of their total usage, marking a significant step towards widespread adoption and demonstrating the scalability of recycled materials in logistics.