First bike bag made from recycled material on the market

Outdoor outfitter VAUDE has been nominated for the Plastics Recycling Awards Europe 2022 together with its supplier Interseroh and processor Fitcraft. The international jury selected the innovative "ReCycle" bike bag series as one of the 13 finalists in the "Household & Leisure Product of the Year" category. The awards will be announced on 23 June at the Plastics Recycling Show in Amsterdam. "We are very proud that our innovative product is in the final selection," says Antje von Dewitz, Managing Director of VAUDE. "It's great to see what can be achieved through good partnerships and joint innovation." Manica Ulcnik-Krump, Managing Director of the research and development company at Interseroh, also sees the nomination as an honour for the companies' development work: "Together, we were able to show that almost any material specification can be produced from plastic waste." Thanks to VAUDE's development partner Fitcraft from the Czech Republic, the sophisticated components were then put into series production and successfully launched on the market in increasing quantities.

Back panel made from post-consumer waste

The bike bags are the first bike bags at VAUDE - and on the market in general - in which all the main components are made from recycled materials. "The fabric of our bike bags has long been made from recycled material - the big innovation is that we can now also produce a back system from recycled materials," explains Kai Vogt, Head of Innovation at VAUDE.

The back panel of the bags is made of 100 per cent Procyclen - a recycled plastic that the environmental service provider Interseroh produces according to strict quality standards from post-consumer waste from the yellow bin/yellow bag. The plastic construction must fulfil special requirements to ensure that the bike bag can be attached to the pannier rack in a way that is both lightweight and permanently stable. The formulation developed especially for VAUDE from the polypropylene recompound Procyclen has a special long-term impact resistance in the extremely low and high temperature range and additionally guaranteed UV and surface scratch resistance. At the same time, improved tensile strength ensures the geometric stability of the product. "This is a unique new formulation whose properties have never before been achieved on an industrial scale, even when modifying virgin material," says Interseroh Head of Research Dr Manica Ulcnik-Krump. With great benefits for the environment: according to a study by the Fraunhofer Institute UMSICHT, the use of Procyclen reduces greenhouse gas emissions by around 56 per cent compared to the use of virgin material.

New "ReCycle" pannier series on sale

The new bike bag series consists of three different sized rear panniers (ReCycle Pro Single, ReCycle Back Single, ReCycle Back) and a shopper bag for the bike rack (ReCycle Shopper). All bags are waterproof welded and climate-neutral manufactured in Germany. They have been available in stores since October 2021.