RRR Calculation Using IMDS: Recyclability & Recoverability Data for Automotive Manufacturers

For automotive manufacturers, Reusability, Recyclability and Recoverability (RRR) calculations depend on accurate material, component and weight data across the vehicle. IMDS provides the structured material data needed to analyze that composition, while RRR calculations apply the relevant methodology to determine how much of a vehicle can potentially be reused, recycled or recovered.

For compliance teams, the challenge is therefore not simply calculating an RRR percentage. It is maintaining reliable supplier material data that can support the calculation and be traced back to the underlying components and materials.

What is RRR in automotive compliance?

RRR stands for:

• Reusability — the potential for components or materials to be reused.
• Recyclability — the potential proportion of a vehicle that can be recycled or reused.
• Recoverability — the potential proportion that can be recovered through recycling, energy recovery or reuse.

For vehicle manufacturers, RRR is closely connected to vehicle type approval and end-of-life requirements.

ISO 22628:2002 defines a calculation method for the recyclability and recoverability rates of new road vehicles, expressed as a mass fraction of the vehicle. The standard remains current following its 2024 review.

The practical requirement is straightforward: manufacturers need reliable information about the materials, components and masses that make up the vehicle.

That is where IMDS becomes important.

How IMDS supports RRR calculations

IMDS provides a structured representation of automotive material data:

This structure allows manufacturers and suppliers to document what materials are present in a component and the associated material weights.

The IMDS system also provides an RRR reporting function. The official IMDS RRR report organizes the material composition of an MDS according to ISO 22628 RRR categories and IMDS material classifications. It can show material weights, their percentage share within the MDS and the weight of individual materials.

This makes IMDS useful as a material-data foundation for RRR analysis.

However, IMDS data quality directly affects the usefulness of the resulting analysis.

If supplier MDSs contain incorrect material classifications, missing weights or incomplete structures, the downstream RRR assessment can become unreliable.

What data is needed for an RRR calculation?

An RRR calculation requires more than a list of substances.

The underlying vehicle data needs to support analysis of:

1. Components

Manufacturers need to know which components make up the vehicle and their associated masses.

2. Materials

Each component needs appropriate material information so that its contribution can be categorized for recycling, recovery or reuse analysis.

3. Material weights

Weight is fundamental because RRR rates are expressed as mass fractions of the vehicle.

4. Material classifications

Material classification allows the data to be organized into the categories required for the relevant RRR methodology.

5. Supplier data

Vehicle manufacturers depend on suppliers for much of the component and material information required for the calculation.

This creates an important operational dependency:

If the first step is weak, the problem carries through the entire process.

Why supplier material data quality matters

RRR calculations are only as reliable as the underlying material data.

Common problems include:

• Missing material declarations
• Incorrect material classifications
• Incorrect component weights
• Incomplete MDS structures
• Outdated supplier declarations
• Materials that cannot be mapped confidently to the required categories
• Changes to components or materials that are not reflected in the current data

These problems are not unique to RRR. They are part of the broader automotive material-compliance data problem.

Regilient's existing guidance on IMDS data quality problems in automotive material declarations addresses the upstream issues that can affect the reliability and usability of supplier material data.

The important point for RRR is that data collection and validation happen before calculation.

RRR calculation workflow using IMDS data

A practical workflow can be structured as follows.

Step 1: Collect supplier material data

Suppliers provide component and material information through the required material-data process.

The manufacturer needs sufficient information to understand the composition and mass of the supplied component.

Step 2: Review the MDS structure

The material declaration should be reviewed for completeness and consistency.

The basic structure should allow the manufacturer to trace:

Vehicle component - material - substance

Step 3: Validate material information

The manufacturer should identify missing, inconsistent or questionable data before using it in downstream reporting.

This is particularly important where material classifications or weights affect the RRR analysis.

Step 4: Aggregate material data

Supplier-level component information must ultimately be brought together into a vehicle-level material dataset.

This is where fragmented spreadsheets and disconnected supplier files become difficult to manage at scale.

Step 5: Categorize materials for RRR analysis

The material dataset is analyzed against the relevant RRR categories and calculation methodology.

The IMDS RRR report can organize MDS material composition according to the ISO 22628 categories and show material weights and shares.

Step 6: Calculate recyclability and recoverability

The vehicle manufacturer applies the applicable calculation methodology to determine the relevant rates.

ISO 22628 defines recyclability and recoverability as mass fractions of the vehicle.

Step 7: Maintain evidence

The manufacturer should be able to trace the calculation back to the underlying component and material information.

That traceability becomes increasingly important when supplier data changes or the vehicle configuration changes.

RRR is not the same as IMDS compliance

It is useful to keep the two concepts separate.

IMDS is a material data system used by automotive manufacturers and suppliers to exchange structured information about material composition.

RRR is an assessment of the potential reusability, recyclability and recoverability of a vehicle based on its composition and the applicable calculation methodology.

So:

IMDS = material data

RRR = recyclability/recoverability assessment

IMDS can therefore provide important input data for RRR analysis, but simply having an IMDS submission does not automatically mean that the vehicle's RRR calculation is complete.

How ELV requirements connect to RRR

RRR sits within the broader end-of-life vehicle compliance framework.

The earlier EU vehicle type-approval framework specifically required manufacturers to provide information on constituent materials and their masses so that recyclability and recoverability calculations could be verified according to ISO 22628. It also recognized the importance of manufacturers having procedures for managing information received from suppliers.

This is why RRR should not be treated as an isolated calculation performed at the end of vehicle development.

The quality of supplier material information, component weights and material classifications needs to be managed throughout the product lifecycle.

For the broader relationship between IMDS, ELV and material compliance, see Regilient's IMDS and ELV compliance guidance.

Where RRR becomes difficult at scale

The calculation itself is only one part of the problem.

For a vehicle manufacturer managing thousands of components and suppliers, the harder questions are often:

• Which supplier declarations are complete?
• Which MDS versions are current?
• Which components changed since the last calculation?
• Which materials need review?
• Can the material weight be traced back to the source declaration?
• Can the manufacturer identify which vehicle variants are affected?
• Can the same material data support other compliance requirements?

This is why RRR management increasingly becomes a material-data management problem, not simply a spreadsheet calculation.

Managing RRR data alongside other automotive requirements

The same material information may support multiple compliance activities.

For example, an automotive compliance team may need to manage:

• IMDS declarations
• GADSL substance requirements
• ELV substance restrictions
• RRR calculations
• supplier material changes
• recycled-content information
• product carbon-footprint data
• other customer-specific material requirements

The objective should therefore be to maintain a controlled material-data foundation rather than repeatedly collecting the same information for different compliance processes.

Regilient's IMDS & ELV compliance software is positioned around this broader workflow, including IMDS/CAMDS data ingestion, validation, GADSL rules, material rollups, supplier workflows and compliance outputs.

What automotive manufacturers should control

A robust RRR process should give the compliance team visibility across four layers:

1. Supplier

Who supplied the data and when?

2. Component

Which vehicle component does the declaration represent?

3. Material

What materials and masses are present?

4. Vehicle

How does that material composition affect the overall RRR calculation?

This creates the traceability required to investigate discrepancies and update calculations when material or component information changes.

RRR calculation: the practical takeaway

RRR compliance is not simply about reaching a target percentage.

The calculation depends on having reliable information about the components, materials and masses that make up the vehicle.

IMDS provides a structured material-data foundation and an RRR reporting capability that organizes MDS material composition according to relevant ISO 22628 categories.

For automotive manufacturers, the practical priority is therefore to establish a process in which:

When this process is managed systematically, RRR becomes part of the broader automotive material-compliance workflow rather than a separate manual exercise.