New Delhi, May 14 -- Every year, millions of cars are scrapped across Europe, and with them, a huge volume of plastic goes to waste. About 30% of a modern vehicle is made of plastic, yet only a fraction of it gets recycled. Most ends up in landfills or is burned polluting the environment and wasting materials that could be reused. The European Union now wants to flip the script with a new regulation aimed at turning car waste into a valuable resource.

The EU's proposed revision of the End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Regulation targets a more automotive circular economy. The idea is simple but powerful: force automakers to use a minimum amount of recycled plastic in new cars. It's a move that, if done right, could reshape how vehicles are made...