Heavy Equipment Mechanic

Unlocking supply to meet demand. A partnership between Plastic Recycling Inc. and Omni is helping increase the supply of material automakers and component manufacturers can use to comply with recycled-content mandates, such as those outlined in the EU's End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation. Published July 02, 2026 Plastics already play a sizable role in the automotive industry, and upcoming regulations only will increase the importance of using recycled content. In the European Union, for example, the updated End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation (ELVR) was approved earlier this year and will take full effect in 2028, impacting all automakers and companies that supply components to the industry. The regulation builds on the EU's End-of-Life Vehicles Directive that has been in place since 2000. Under the ELVR, automakers will be required to incorporate a minimum of 15 percent recycled plastic in new vehicles within six years of implementation, increasing to 25 percent within 10 years. Additionally, 20 percent of the recycled content used must come from closed-loop processes. Such a regulation will require a lot of recycled material, and Plastic Recycling Inc. (PRI) in Indianapolis is an example of a company tapping into diverse streams to build supply for automotive use. For the past five years, PRI, also the subject of this issue's cover story, has developed a process to recover plastics such as polypropylene, polystyrene and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene from automotive shredder residue (ASR) and transform the materials into pellets for automotive applications. More recently, the company has begun marketing its compounds to automakers and Tier 1 suppliers. Now, PRI is beginning to scale its ASR processing. In April, the company announced a partnership with a nearby Omni location. Omni is a network of metals recycling facilities owned by Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Steel Dynamics Inc. that produces high volumes of ASR at its shredder installations. Under the agreement, PRI gains access to vast quantities of ASR annually to convert into recycled-content pellets, giving customers in the automotive industry a consistent, closed-loop material. PRI President Brandon Shaw calls ASR-derived plastic a material stream with untapped potential. "We feel like we're the first ones that are set in the U.S. to help with [the ELVR]," Shaw says. "This EU ELV Directive is the demand signal that the market needed. It's going to push things along." When working with customers, Shaw says PRI prefers to be in the middle of the production process with them rather than just a supplier. "We collaborate with them to figure out where we can put the PCR and ELV-derived materials and what percent of those materials we can put in," he says. "We sit down with them and develop the specs and everything else, and we can tell them exactly how much recycled content they need and help them understand the reduction in their carbon footprint based on the products they're switching to." Sponsored Content Optimal productivity, heavy construction, safety features and operator comfort come together in the SENNEBOGEN 360 G-series telescopic wheel loader, designed for work across the waste and recycling industry. Telescopic wheel loaders manufactured by SENNEBOGEN have a growing presence at transfer stations, material recovery facilities (MRFs), construction and demolition (C&D) recycling plants and metal recycling facilities across North America. With Omni's help, PRI is unlocking a recyclable plastic source that could push two industries forward. - - - Get curated news on YOUR industry. Enter your email to receive our newsletters. Explore the summer 2026 Plastics recycling issue.

Steel Dynamics announces leadership appointment. Steel producer and metal recycler Steel Dynamics Inc., Fort Wayne, Ind., has announced the appointment of Matt Bell as vice president of metals recycling and president of OmniSource. Since joining the company in 2016, Bell has held leadership roles within the metals recycling platform in operations, commercial, and marketing. Since 2023, he has served as vice president of commercial for OmniSource. Before joining the company, he held various leadership positions in the metals recycling industry.