Renault Group’s circular-economy arm, The Future is NEUTRAL, is entering a new chapter just as the carmaker strengthens its industrial footprint in end-of-life vehicle recycling.
With Grégoire de Franqueville set to take over as CEO on 1 March 2026, Renault is signalling that circularity is no longer a side strategy but a core industrial priority tied to competitiveness, regulation, and resource security.
Industrialize vehicle circularity
The leadership transition comes at a pivotal moment. Founded as a joint initiative between Renault Group and SUEZ, The Future is NEUTRAL was designed to industrialize vehicle circularity at scale, covering end-of-life vehicle collection and dismantling, parts reuse and remanufacturing, and large-scale materials recycling.
Renault describes the company as a platform serving not only its own brands but potentially the wider automotive sector, combining environmental performance with economic efficiency.
According to Renault, NEUTRAL already operates at a significant scale, collecting and dismantling around 425,000 end-of-life vehicles annually.
The system supplies nearly 10 million reusable parts to the market each year, produces hundreds of thousands of remanufactured components, and processes more than two million tons of recycled materials. The emphasis is clear: reuse first, industrial recycling second, and tighter control over valuable material streams throughout.
480 dismantling centers
That strategic direction is reinforced by Renault’s recent decision to expand its French ‘Individual System’ for end-of-life vehicles. Under France’s AGEC anti-waste framework, manufacturers can fulfil their extended producer responsibility obligations either collectively or through their own dedicated systems. Renault has opted for the latter and, in January, announced a strengthened partnership with Derichebourg Environnement.
The move expands Renault’s contracted network from 440 to 480 authorised dismantling centers, supported by 20 recycling facilities, bringing the total footprint to 500 sites across France.
The model links depollution and dismantling operations directly with industrial shredding and material recovery facilities, aiming to improve traceability, increase parts harvesting, and optimise recycling performance.
In essence, Renault is building a vertically coordinated, brand-led infrastructure designed to meet regulatory targets while feeding reusable parts and recycled materials back into the value chain.
Contrast with Belgian Febelauto
This manufacturer-driven approach contrasts with the model used in Belgium, where Febelauto coordinates end-of-life vehicle and battery management at the sector level.
Rather than operating a single system for one brand, Febelauto serves as a collective management body for the entire market. It oversees collection, reporting, and compliance across approved operators and importers, ensuring that national recycling and recovery targets are met.
Belgium’s system consistently reports very high performance rates, with nearly 98 percent of end-of-life vehicle weight put to useful use through reuse and recycling.
The emphasis is on system-wide coordination, regulatory compliance, and data transparency rather than brand-specific vertical integration. Approved dismantlers and shredders operate within a national framework that aggregates results across all manufacturers.
While there is no direct operational link between Renault’s Future is NEUTRAL and Febelauto, the two models reflect different governance paths responding to the same European pressures.
Stricter traceability requirements, tighter controls on informal exports of end-of-life vehicles,s and growing concern over access to critical raw materials are pushing automakers and regulators alike toward more structured circular systems.
In France, Renault is consolidating control through its own individual network, using partnerships and industrial scale to anchor circularity within its corporate strategy.
In Belgium, the collective model continues to deliver strong national outcomes by coordinating the entire sector under one umbrella. Both approaches aim to keep more materials in circulation, reduce environmental impact, and secure secondary raw materials for a rapidly electrifying fleet.
