Evolution of IMDS to Collect Recycled and Bio-Based Content of Materials

While the automotive aftermarket industry is booming with an annual CAGR of around 4%, from 2023 to 2030, the end-of-life vehicle (ELV) regulations are changing. ELV regulations promote environmental impact reduction through material recycling and reuse. This summarizes how IMDS has evolved and continues to collect information on recycled and bio-based materials.

• Since 2000, IMDS has implemented various methods for collecting data on recyclable materials. Providing recyclate data for components, semi-components, and materials were considered optional in the system.
• With IMDS 3.0, recyclate information for the Polymer classifications became mandatory for components and semi-components with more than 25 g weight, further extended in IMDS 4.0 to include metal material classification 1 to 4.
• With IMDS 7.2 SO 14021 descriptions added for pre-consumer and post-consumer recyclate, and with IMDS 9.0, suppliers could modify the recyclate information by sending data to OEMS. With the implementation of IMDS 13.0, recyclate information for polymer materials became mandatory at a material level.
• With the current major version of IMDS 14.0, suppliers can enter information about the source of the materials for all classifications except metals. Selecting the required standard certifications and mass-balanced content for bio-based and chemically recycled materials is also possible. Significant enhancements to IMDS 14.2 will be in effect from November 15, 2023
• After IMDS started obtaining recyclate information, evaluating the content of recyclate and bio-based materials became necessary. As a result of the presentation at the IMDS Steering Committee in November 2022 and feedback from OEM recycling experts, the IMDS 025 recommendation was proposed. The IMDS 025 guide will be developed based on the work of the existing PFA - Methodological Guide to Evaluate the Content of Recycled Materials in Vehicles.
• The IMDS 025 guide was made possible by the working group with experts from AIAG, CLEPA, JAPIA, PFA, and IMDS OEMS and was published on May 4th, 2023.
• Soon, we can look forward to enhancement proposal R243, which can add recycled information for metals on the material level just as other classifications. Consider incorporating data collection in the IMDS system to promote a circular economy with efficient waste reduction.