Recycling Adam

According to the EU End of Vehicle Life Directive, 85% of every new vehicle must be recyclable.

This guideline is to become even more stringent: from 2015, 95% of all new vehicles' overall weight must be recyclable.

Opel says it is ideally equipped to meet this strict directive, as the Rüsselsheim automaker has been working with recyclate components since 1990.

Initially, four approved recyclate types were used in the Opel Calibra; today 200 are used across the model portfolio.

This enables Opel to use a total of 45,000 tonnes of recyclates in new vehicles every year.

In the compact Opel ADAM, a potentially record-breaking 170 components made of recycled materials are used.

This is in perfect harmony with the urban lifestyle car that saves resources thanks to its small size, low fuel consumption and high number of recyclate components.

This also means that the 'eco angel's' environmental footprint is already reduced during its production, which takes place in Opel's Eisenach plant. That is another special ADAM characteristic: it is the only small car from a German manufacturer that is also built in Germany.

The pressures and temperatures required for processing pellets made from recycled materials are lower than when using new materials.

The energy this saves leads to 30% lower CO2 emissions.