Answer: Covestro AG opened a Leverkusen chemical-recycling pilot for Vulkollan® high-performance elastomers used in forklift wheels. The double-digit million-euro plant targets more than 90 percent mass recycle of selected end-of-life material and up to a two-thirds carbon-footprint cut versus virgin feedstock.
Covestro AG said it has opened a new pilot plant for the chemical recycling of high-performance elastomers at its Leverkusen, Germany, site. The project moves a recycling process for Vulkollan® from laboratory work into pilot operation. Covestro describes the installation as one of the first of its kind worldwide for this material class and frames it as a double-digit million-euro investment tied to German chemical and engineering capacity.
Vulkollan is a high-performance polyurethane elastomer. Covestro lists forklift wheels, railway buffer elements, automotive jounce bumpers, and vibration-control parts among the applications. Those wheels share plant floors with carts on heavy-duty casters and fleets that also buy polyurethane drive wheels for AGV and keyed-hub service.
Covestro says the process breaks selected end-of-life Vulkollan into purified building blocks for reuse, with more than 90 percent of the material by mass recycled and a carbon footprint cut of up to two thirds versus fossil-based virgin material. The pilot will test waste streams, refine the process, and generate scale-up data. Covestro also plans to use the plant to explore circular work on selected specialty cast elastomers and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU).
Monique Buch, Chief Commercial Officer, said the plant brings the chemistry closer to industrial application and responds to customer demand for circular elastomer supply. Thomas Braig, Head of the Business Entity Elastomers, called it a pre-industrialization step to show technical feasibility. Covestro says it is working with customers, recyclers, waste collectors, and logistics partners on collection and return systems. For fiscal year 2025 it reported sales of EUR 12.9 billion, about 17,600 employees on a full-time-equivalent basis, and 46 production sites worldwide at year-end 2025.
CasterHQ does not sell Covestro Vulkollan resin. A quote for material handling casters or wheel tread compound is not a claim that a finished part uses recycled Vulkollan or meets a Covestro circular grade. Buyers who specify polyurethane tread should treat circular-content language as a supplier claim to verify against the compound maker’s documentation.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | Covestro AG (Leverkusen, Germany) |
| Project | Chemical-recycling pilot for high-performance elastomers (Vulkollan®) |
| Site | Leverkusen, Germany |
| Investment (company wording) | Double-digit million-euro |
| Mass recycle claim | More than 90% of selected end-of-life Vulkollan by mass |
| Carbon footprint claim | Up to two thirds lower vs fossil-based virgin material |
| Named forklift use | Forklift wheels (plus railway buffers, jounce bumpers, vibration control) |
| Named executives | Monique Buch, CCO; Thomas Braig, Head of Business Entity Elastomers |
What this means for caster and wheel buyers
- When a forklift-wheel or polyurethane-tread RFQ asks for circular or chemically recycled content, name the elastomer grade family (for example Vulkollan or equivalent) and require the compound supplier’s recycle-mass and footprint claims in writing.
- Keep virgin vs recycled elastomer lines as separate SKUs on the quote so dock, AGV, and cart wheels are not mixed under one vague “green PU” note.
- Ask whether end-of-life take-back applies to finished wheels or only to Covestro’s selected waste streams, and who owns collection logistics.
- For OEM specs that call out cast polyurethane or TPU tread, check whether the pilot’s future specialty-cast and TPU work is in scope before accepting a substitute grade.
- Do not treat Covestro’s pilot opening as commercial availability; confirm current production status and lead time with the wheel or compound vendor before budgeting a recycled-content surcharge.
Limits
Investment size, recycle-mass percentage, carbon-footprint reduction, application list, executive titles, and FY 2025 sales and site counts are from Covestro’s Leverkusen pilot-plant press release. This desk did not open a process flowsheet, a commercial price list, a material safety data sheet for a recycled Vulkollan grade, or a signed customer offtake contract. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (KSTA, Sept. 16, 2026) was used only as a secondary check that the Leverkusen inauguration was reported as Monday, Sept. 15, 2026; KSTA scale and timeline figures were not carried into the body. The photograph is a Chempark Leverkusen stand-in from Wikimedia Commons; it is not a Covestro pilot-line photo and was not shot by CasterHQ.
Sources
- Covestro AG press release: Toward circular elastomers: Covestro opens pilot plant in Leverkusen
