• A black list specifies the substances which must not be used, while a grey list contains substances whose use should be minimized wherever possible. A white list contains suitable replacement substances and processes that are less harmful to health and the environment.
• DFR (Designed for Recycling) principles are one of the most recently developed environmental tools and control the design and use of recycled and recyclable components.
• In general terms, the environmental load a car imposes is divided into three parts, production, operation and scrapping or destruction.
• The Volvo S80 is the first car on the market to be produced in a process has
environmental certification according to the ISO 14001 standard for environmental control systems, issued by Lloyd's of London.
• Production itself is preceded by product and process development under the strict uidance of the above-mentioned methods- and many others. The production of the S80 at the Volvo Torslanda Plant is second to none in the automotive industry in both environmental and quality terms.
• The paint shop uses one of the world's cleanest painting processes in which virtually all the painting is done by robots in sealed-off spaces. Moreover, all hazardous chemicals have been removed from the production process.
• All the paint is naturally waterborne, thereby reducing the emission of solvents to a minimum.
• The waste-water cleaning process is World Class and much of the water that is discharged from the plant is actually cleaner than the water that is brought in from the local waterworks!
• Furthermore, energy consumption during the production phase is deliberately kept as low as possible.
• When it comes to materials, the main transition is taking place within the use of plastics. The percentage of recycled plastics and recyclable plastics is increasing the whole time, in line with Volvo's strategy to make more or less the entire car recyclable.
• All the plastic parts weighing more than 50 grams are labeled with international symbols to facilitate sorting and recycling. Recycled plastics currently account for some 10 per cent of the plastic content of the Volvo S80, or more than (33 kilograms) in weight.
• Of the plastic used in the car, some 25 per cent is recyclable but the switch-over to other plastics will continuously increase this figure.
• The plastics used on the inside of the car have been carefully selected in order to minimize both vapor emissions and fogging. So-called TPO foil on the dashboard and panels has replaced the PVC which was previously used and was largely been responsible for fogging. TPO has several advantages over PVC. It is far better from an environmental point of view and is also more pleasant to touch.
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