21/08/2026
International automotive lighting and electronics specialist Forvia Hella is partnering with multiple organizations to research how to establish a circular value chain for headlamps and other products, in response to the automotive industry's increasingly stringent sustainability requirements.
Headquartered in Lippstadt, Germany, Forvia Hella was formed in 2022 through the merger of French automotive parts giant Faurecia SA and German lighting expert Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. It now operates as a business unit under the Forvia group, the world's seventh-largest automotive supplier.
The company is collaborating with BMW, Covestro, Geba, Fraunhofer IEM, Fraunhofer UMSICHT, Paderborn University, Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), and SW Maschinenservice on the three-year "Kollekt" research project. The interdisciplinary consortium is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) for the project period from June 2026 to May 2029, with funding amounting to €43 million.
Driving Sustainable Headlamp Innovation with Circular Design
The Kollekt project focuses on developing and implementing circular product solutions based on the "Design for Circularity" concept – meaning that recyclability and reusability are considered from the very outset of product design. The approach follows the four R strategies: Repair, Re-Use, Remanufacture, and Recycle.
Dr. Michael Kleinkes, Head of Global Lighting R&D at Forvia Hella, notes that today's headlamps are designed for a single lifecycle and prioritize ease of assembly, which severely limits repairability. The Kollekt project will investigate how future headlamps can be made repairable and partially reusable, while also exploring the necessary production and logistics processes.
Intelligent Disassembly and Digital Twins
The project will leverage cutting-edge technologies to tackle these challenges. The partners plan to develop a flexible disassembly cell. Forvia Hella stated in a press release: "Robotics and AI-based data processing will lay the foundation for reuse and recycling on an industrial scale."
The company added: "We will use product digital twins to enable precise, automated, and material-type-specific disassembly of components. This process will be supplemented by optimized downstream sorting stages to remove contaminants and separate plastic fractions. These materials will then be characterized and used for mechanical recycling as well as partial chemical recycling."
Putting People at the Center to Enable a New Value System
The project also emphasizes the inclusion of people in this new value creation system. The expertise and active involvement of personnel are critical to implementing circular product designs and achieving circular economy outcomes on the ground.
Building on Prior Sustainability Research
The Kollekt project directly builds on its predecessor NALYSES (short for "Sustainable Optimized Life Cycle Assessment"), which was completed in 2026, aiming to advance its research findings into a comprehensive, end-to-end circular value creation model.
The partners note that early involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises, industry associations, and networks, along with academic conferences, teaching, and publications, "will ensure that the research results are scalable and transferable beyond automotive lighting to other fields, including electrical and electronic applications."
Responding to Regulatory Pressure and Resource Scarcity
Advanced materials supplier Covestro stated that the automotive industry "is facing growing pressure from resource scarcity, supply security concerns, and tightening regulatory requirements, especially the EU's End-of-Life Vehicles Directive. Technical hurdles, cost pressures, and insufficient product recyclability have so far prevented efficient plastics circularity from being established on a large scale."
The Kollekt project aims to directly address this gap by placing "Design for Circularity" at its core. Forvia Hella's Kleinkes said: "Today, headlamps – like many other products – still rarely enter a true circular system. That is why we are researching how to extend the lifespan of materials, enable reuse, and significantly reduce resource consumption."
"In other words, together with our partners, we are exploring how today's headlamps can become tomorrow's raw materials. This will provide critical insights for achieving our carbon-neutral value chain goals."