Project summary
AUToLooP aims to enhance circularity in the Austrian vehicle and component manufacturing industry, and to significantly increase the use of recyclables from end-of-life vehicles as well as other secondary raw materials. In light of growing dependencies on raw materials, climate policy targets and geopolitical uncertainties, a well-functioning circular economy is becoming increasingly important for the automotive industry. This is further reinforced by the ongoing revision of the EU End-of-Life Vehicles Directive (2000/53/EC), the planned ELV Regulation and the Industrial Accelerator Act, which will introduce phased minimum recycled content requirements for plastics, steel, aluminium and critical raw materials.
The project initially assesses the current status of material flows and relevant stakeholders along the automotive value chain in Austria using material flow analysis (MFA), and identifies Austrian best-practice examples. Innovation potentials, opportunities and barriers to greater circularity are identified together with stakeholders and further analysed through a SWOT assessment. The findings are synthesised into a prioritised catalogue of practical recommendations, which are evaluated in terms of implementation effort, time requirements and contribution to Austria’s circular economy strategy using a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA).
Objectives
AUToLooP pursues the following strategic objectives:
- Assessment of the current Austrian industry status regarding the use of recyclables from end-of-life vehicles and secondary raw materials in vehicle and component manufacturing, including stakeholder mapping and material flow analysis.
- Identification of Austrian, and where relevant, international best-practice examples for the successful use of secondary raw materials.
- Systematic analysis of innovation potential, technical barriers and future research needs in areas such as circular vehicle design, design for disassembly, material identification, digital product passports and recycling technologies.
- Implementation of a participatory co-creation workshop with relevant stakeholders to conduct a SWOT analysis of opportunities and barriers.
- Development of a prioritised catalogue of recommendations and an evaluation matrix as a strategic steering tool for policy, research and industry.
Role of alchemia-nova
As consortium lead, alchemia-nova is responsible for the overall coordination of AUToLooP and serves as the central point of contact for the funding body. This includes project management, time and resource planning, quality assurance and interface management between consortium partners. In addition to coordination, alchemia-nova conducts the material flow analysis for Austrian vehicle and component manufacturing and visualises resource flows using Sankey diagrams. Furthermore, alchemia-nova is responsible for the multi-criteria analysis used to validate and prioritise the recommendations.
Partners
Project coordination (consortium lead): alchemia-nova research & innovation gGmbH
Cooperation partners:
· University of Graz, Institute of Environmental Systems Sciences
Project Status:
Project start: 4 May 2026
Duration: 12 months (until 3 May 2027)
Funding body: Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure (BMIMI), administered by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) under the programme “FFG Ressourcenwende 2025”
Project number: FO999934461
