The recyclability and sustainability of self-reinforced plastic has been compared to competing materials such as PP, GMT & SMC.

The absence of conventional reinforcements such as glass fibre makes self-reinforced plastic relatively easy to recycle, making it particularly attractive in light of tough recycling legislation such as the European End-of-Life Vehicle Directive.

A comprehensive series of trials have demonstrated that self-reinforced plastic material waste can be introduced back into the manufacturing process at levels up to 50% without loss of properties, forming a closed recycling loop.

Post-industrial waste, such as offcuts and mouldings can be remoulded to different shapes with no significant loss of properties, and shredded self-reinforced plastic has be used as a reinforcing filler to increase the mechanical properties of unreinforced polypropylene.

Post-consumer waste can be recycled using existing dismantling infrastructure and recycling technologies, being used for instance for
injection moulding of commodity items.