- To make Canopy wiper blade more sustainable, Valeo teams worked on three approaches:
- Reduction of the use of oil-based materials through:
> Use of renewable materials not usually used, such as natural rubber, vegetable oils, sugar cane
> Increased use of recycled materials* (up to 15% in Complete Canopy wiper blade compared to 0% in usual wiper blades), such as carbon black from recycled tires, recycled metal, recycled plastics.
> Increased use of “Natural” non-fossil materials such as calcium oxide and Silica (5% of Canopy rubber compound)
- Reduction of the “carbon footprint”, with 61% savings on CO2 emissions, thanks to :
> wiper blade and packaging assembly (France)
>Material selected from sustainable sources (Natural rubber from PEFC certified rubber plantations)
-Use of a fully recyclable packaging made from more than 90% recycled cardboard material
- The project development has been set around the following milestones:
> Analysis of materials used in current Valeo Premium wiper blades and packaging + brainstorming on how to reduce “carbon footprint”
> Set up of 4 dedicated project teams (Advanced Development projects, R&D, Quality, Purchasing, Marketing)
> Ideas and actions to reduce the use of (i) oil-based materials and (ii) carbon footprint in rubber, metal, plastic and packaging
> Development and validation of the new rubber compound using less virgin oil-based materials
> Investigation with new suppliers of raw material and validation of new plastic including up to 50% recycled materials
> Investigation and validation of recycled cardboard materials used for packaging
Bureau Veritas, one world's leading certification bodies, validated statement: ""The new Valeo CANOPY FlatBlade range with the new Valeo specific rubber packaged in cardboard box enables a CO2e emission reduction of 525 g per wiper blade (=-61%)* vs. a Valeo Flat Blade range produced in Asia with synthetic rubber and packaged in plastic sleeves.""
* weighted average based on LCAs (Scope 1,2 and 3 upstream) done on 3 wiper blade lengths =350mm, 600mm and 750mm."