Meet the reEconic, the Mercedes eEconic partly made with recycled materials

A sustainability alliance of 33 partners, led by the Daimler Truck division Mercedes-Benz Trucks, the waste collection vehicle specialist FAUN Umwelttechnik, and the recycling company TSR Group, demonstrates this with the concept vehicle reECONIC. The partners have manufactured the battery-electric waste collection vehicle, based on the Mercedes-Benz eEconic, in a particularly resource-efficient manner. The concept vehicle is equipped with the new FAUN reNew VARIOPRESS body, which is also partially made from recycled materials.

The vehicle will celebrate its world premiere on May 4 at IFAT, the world’s leading trade fair for environmental technologies, in Munich. The complete reECONIC vehicle will be on display starting May 4 in the VAK outdoor area (Association for work machinery and municipal technology in Germany) at IFAT, where it will also be driven on the vehicle course and explained by experts.

The reEconic concept

More into details, in the reEconic, selected components were replaced with recycled materials and natural and bio-based materials. The partners supplemented the parts installed in the vehicle with forecasts and projections to determine how the circular content could theoretically be further increased. Overall, the combination of installed components and the study results show that, theoretically, around 80 percent of the materials steel, aluminum, glass, and plastic could be replaced with recycled materials and natural and bio-based materials.

“Sustainability is an integral part of our strategy. Together with strong partners, we are actively advancing it through this project. On the one hand, we are consistently decarbonizing our products. On the other hand, climate-friendly and resource-efficient production and supply processes make a significant contribution. With reECONIC, we are charting a concrete path toward a more sustainable value chain in vehicle production.”, commented Achim Puchert, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

“Together with our European partners, we have done pioneering work in the field of material recycling and the use of natural materials and bio-based alternative products in commercial vehicle manufacturing. It consists, among other things, of materials with a history—from fishing nets to automotive parts. Even after the end of their useful life, many of these components can be converted back into their raw materials and reused—that is the circular economy in its purest form. We expect to be able to incorporate our findings and experience into series production so that more trucks with high recycled content will hit the roads in the future”, added Roland Dold, reECONIC Project Manager, Mercedes-Benz Trucks.