Feasibility & Desirability: How Bosch built a drill from post-consumer recycled plastics
Can recycled technical plastics meet quality, performance, and price requirements at the same time?
In this episode, Isabelle Gola from Bosch Power Tools explains how Bosch developed a closed-loop pilot for power tools using recycled technical plastics while maintaining the same quality and performance standards, at the same price point for the end consumer.
What you’ll hear in this episode:
- How recycled technical plastics were tested against existing quality and performance specifications.
- How communication, certification, and transparency shaped internal alignment and customer response.
- How Bosch defined success in the pilot, with feedback, learning, and data as central KPIs.
The episode also looks at practical challenges behind the closed-loop approach, including reverse logistics considerations, sourcing sufficient volumes, and using disassembly data to inform eco-design and future product development.
This episode is part of the “Recycled Plastics form Premium Brands” series, sponsored by HolyPoly.
Video Impression
People
Isabelle Gola, Head of Sustainability at Bosch Power Tools
https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelle-gola-62116b198/
Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypscher/
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:39 From Plastic Shortage to Closed Loop
05:27 The Four-Step Technical Pilot Roadmap
07:00 Reverse Logistics: The Challenge of the 17-Year Lifespan
09:56 Data Mining: 500,000 Data Points for Eco-Design
16:09 Technical Feasibility & Quality Validation
33:25 Communication Strategy
34:43 Isabelle’s Personal Learning
About
Bosch Power Tools is a division of the Bosch Group that develops and manufactures power tools, accessories, and measuring equipment for professional tradespeople and DIY users worldwide.
In addition to product performance, Bosch Power Tools integrates sustainability and circular-economy principles into its strategy by improving repairability and product lifetimes, working on resource-efficient designs and materials, and expanding approaches for reusing and recycling tools and components across their life cycle.
Further Links
https://www.bosch-professional.com
Transcript
[00:00:00] Introduction
Isabelle Gola: We know when this has been successful by different KPIs. Really, for us, we already live and impart the success of the technical milestone because it worked out. I mean, this was such a big challenge and a huge work. So I think very often we forget to talk about these milestone successes. So this is why I mentioned it. For me. A success will really mean that we have feedback that we can analyze to really get the learnings out of it.
Patrick Hypscher: My name is Patrick Hypscher and this is Circularity.fm, the podcast about understanding, building and managing circular business models. Welcome back to our series on recycled plastics for premium brands. In the last episode, we listened to Vorwerk and how they organized internal alignment. Today, we want to focus on another product category. Power tools can be found in nearly every household. A screwdriver, drilling machines, a circular saw. Many people use it only occasionally, but there are also, of course, professionals that work with these tools every day. Therefore, they have to be robust and last long. Many materials and components are part of such a product. Robert Bosch Power Tools is one of the biggest manufacturers and most popular brand in this field. Today’s guest joined Robert Bosch almost 20 years ago. Five years ago, she was appointed as head of sustainability. Welcome, Isabelle.
Isabelle Gola: Thank you very much, Patrick. Thank you for this introduction.
Patrick Hypscher: These are where I start with personal question. When was the last time you used a drill?
Isabelle Gola: A drill. Actually we use it quite often. I think the last time might be some weeks ago when at home we had to hang up a new lamp. Okay,
Patrick Hypscher: I guess that one wasn’t made of recycled plastics, but you’re looking into that topic and actually pursuing it. Yes. Why did you want to give plastics a second life?
[00:02:39] From Plastic Shortage to Closed Loop
Isabelle Gola: So actually, question zero was when we started with all our sustainability activities, obviously recycled materials plays a big role, definitely. And this is what we do anyway and scale it up in all our products and packaging. But the question came up when we struggled to get availability of a specific material. technical plastic that we use in some of our product housings and which was not available. And then we said, okay, we have so many products we use, we need to get back of this material because it’s so valuable. And so this is when the whole story started. It was not only due that we said we have to set up a circular model. It’s really due to risk assessment and necessity and future outlook. How will we make sure that we will have in the future the material that we need? So it, and then it comes up to, okay, we will need to have to find a way to get back to our material and use it.
Patrick Hypscher: Okay. And that specific material, did you look for virgin material or recycled material? So where was the shortage?
Isabelle Gola: for recycled material. So this is what we look into with my team. We want to exchange what we can from virgin materials to recycled materials or more sustainable materials. After, of course, having cut unnecessary materials, this is then the past. So recycled material was our topic.
Patrick Hypscher: Yeah, okay, clear. And once you have that situation clearly laid out, how did the process from then look?
Isabelle Gola: So actually we said, okay, we won’t be able to get through the whole process by ourselves alone. And then we met our partner, HolyPoly, and brought together with them this idea, how can we solve this situation and how can we pilot it? How can we find out how this could work out in Germany? So this was the start of the project initiated by a big round of people from Bosch Power Tools, purchasing departments, engineers, the sustainability team, and with our partners, HolyPoly, to try to set up a pilot workstream.
[00:05:27] The Four-Step Technical Pilot Roadmap
Patrick Hypscher: Isabel, you just recently launched a product made of recycled plastics. In order to do so, you had to make sure that the material meets the technical specifications. Let’s dive deeper into the technical dimension first. What kind of plastics did you replace in the first place?
Isabelle Gola: So Patrick, maybe one thing. We just recently launched a product, our closed-loop edition, which is made out of recycled plastics, but of our own old product housing, which makes a big difference to the other products that we launch with recycled materials already. So just to specify this one. And actually… I would say the process and the whole project, I mean, took at least two and a half years. So you can already imagine that this was a long process and also divided into two big milestones. And the first, would maybe start with technical with the first milestone, which was our technical pilot. And this had three big steps inside and we can… dig deeper into those steps, but the first step is how do we get back off our tools? I mean, this is a real challenge. I will go into this topic. this was the first one. Second topic is the dismantling of the products and also to get back off our housing material. Actually, we have four steps. Then the third step is the recycling process itself. So the plastic recycling process. And then the final one is to get really the granulate that we need and that meets our specification, including all the final product testings. So this was the technical process.
[00:07:00] Reverse Logistics: The Challenge of the 17-Year Lifespan
And the first step to get back to our tools is really not so easy. because we sell our products to our users and then we don’t owe them anymore. They lie and they are in the hands of the users and in the best time for a very long time, which our products are made for to really have a long lifetime. So we identified then the process, how do our users get rid of their tools? In a lot of cases, they don’t get rid of it at all because just keep it at home. But for those who get back the tools, it’s the normal way of all electro products. They bring it to the recycling centers in their hometown. And obviously we have then thousands of them and this was not a good point to start collection. because logistically wise this wouldn’t have made any sense. So from those recycling centers, the different recycling streams, because you bring in everything, you have paper, carton boxes, you have household goods, and also our product categories in. So they bring it to so-called waste collectors who already have a look and really focus on our specific stream before they end up to the real recycling, so to the standard recycling of our products. So we analyzed this whole stream and decided that the biggest and yeah, the best way would be to get back high volumes would be the waste collectors. So just before they are handed to the recycling itself. And this was the first step. we get in contact with them. This was mainly done by Holypoly. We discussed with them how we could get back our tools. So at the end, it’s a discussion on a very specific level because it’s really different. All of them work differently. And in the best case, we get them. We came back to our tools. on a very easy way once we have done all the discussions. Yes, it’s Germany. Really for this technical pilot, we started with Germany. Otherwise, it would have been really difficult because also the regulations for the waste streams are very different from country to country and this would have been too complicated. So we focused on Germany. So once we got back those tools, we had thousands of them. And the next step was the dismantling step.
[00:09:56] Data Mining: 500,000 Data Points for Eco-Design
And this was for us also very, very important because we combined it with the so-called data mining. So we didn’t dismantle them only. We really collected data. have over half a million data points collected from those tools, which for us is super valuable. And we got a lot out of it also then to bring it back for our design and development phase. because those are learnings we normally don’t have in our linear economy. So those data points were, for example, what is the tool type? How old are they? How long does it take to dismantle them? What is the color? What were the challenges of dismantling? And what is important for us to take? back in the real design phase to make better and for doing improvements. So this whole data mining concept was a really big step for us to understand better our tools and the reverse logistics topic.
Patrick Hypscher: And on that one and also maybe related to the first one, what was the scope of the products you took back? Only Bosch Power Tools ones or also from other brands? And so how did you narrow down the funnel? Because if you then collect the data, you want to really find the right balance between the variety, volume.
Isabelle Gola: So we narrowed it down quite clearly. We said we only want to have power tools. So no garden products. So because we also have a lot of garden products, no accessories with go with the tools because also here this could be a huge, data and collection point area. And we also have measuring tools in our product portfolio. And we also took those away because this would have been just too big. So power tools from drill drivers to sable saws, everything that you need on the construction side, I would say.
Patrick Hypscher: And then you normally would assume that you already have a lot of data about that one.
Isabelle Gola: Yes, this is a very good point. You would actually assume. So I think one interesting thing is, no, we don’t have all this data. what we are a big learning from us, and this is good in the one way, on the one hand is that the tools that have been given back were very old. So this means the lifetime of the tools is quite long. So in average, the tool age was 17 years old. So if you can think of 17 years before our doing, we didn’t thought about collecting all this data. So this was a real benefit for us and also to have all the completion of weights. also in some cases, yeah, we don’t have for all products, all information left after so long time. this was, yeah, we didn’t have all this data and this was really complimentary. And this is why it is such important step for us. So this was step two.
Patrick Hypscher: and then you collected the data and how did this data help you?
Isabelle Gola: This helped us enormously. So the learning of the data was very big actually because 17 years ago, the regulation was different. And in some cases, the materials we used have been different that we couldn’t use for the current recycling stream. So here we also sorted out some very old products. And I mentioned already before, it was also very interesting for us in regards of eco-design. So the whole topic, design for circularity is really important, but we haven’t in the past. This was never a big focus. So we learned a lot. How long does it take to dismantle? Our tools. designed for repair, are they designed for recyclability? So how can we improve here? This was what all the data helped us and it was also interesting to see what kind of products have been given away. So we saw really specific product types which came back and specific product types that we didn’t see. So we assume that They still aren’t used. And yeah, this was a lot of learnings.
Patrick Hypscher: Okay, and for the specific then recycling process, you use the data to sort out the ones you can’t, don’t want to use for recycling anymore and then you’re left with the ones that are the new feedstock.
[00:16:09] Technical Feasibility & Quality Validation
Isabelle Gola: Exactly. Exactly. then we came exactly in the step three, the recycling process. here, different trials have been made, specific trials. So a specific plastic recycling and tests with another partner we did. So this was also a learning phase because not the first recycling trial was the match. And this was also then a very important, yeah. trial lesson we had.
Patrick Hypscher: Can you share what kind of plastics you’ve been looking for?
Isabelle Gola: So we had our technical plastic, which is a PA6GF30 to be very specific in a specific color. So we focused, as you might know, we have two colors using in our brand portfolio. One is the green color for the DIYers and the blue one is for the professional ones. And we focused on green as well. You specifically have to match exactly this color code, which is very important to us.
Patrick Hypscher: And have there been concerns at the beginning about the recyclability of the material? Because it’s a common question at the beginning of such a project. Yes. Kind of challenge that. how did that turn out? Have you been happy with the results of the summit?
Isabelle Gola: Yes, we have been. obviously this was also the question, the recyclability, will it turn out that we can use the granulates? And yes. So at the end, the technical test was done under our quality specifications. So we don’t shifted any quality specifications down. We said we need to match our high standards of quality. quality of color coding. And we had then several recycling trials. But then the main important to us is really the final tests on the real product. So after having used the granulate at our moulders, we put them into our industrial process, into our industrial production. And at the end, you need to run tests and those tests are quite challenging because we have higher standards than the norm due to our really quality performance from Bosch, I would say. We have to meet it. And one of our important tests, quality tests with the final product is the drop test. So we drop. our products from a specific height and see what happens. And especially with recycled plastics, this can be a challenge. And we at the end, of course, otherwise we wouldn’t have continued. We made all these tests and happily it worked out very well.
Patrick Hypscher: Cool. And even now for the customer when I buy that drill, I don’t see it. It looks exactly the same or is it?
Isabelle Gola: You don’t see it. You just see it through our communication, but at the tool itself, you don’t see it. So you don’t see it. You don’t feel it. You don’t have any performance downgradings, nothing. This is really the tool, how it has to be.
Patrick Hypscher: Okay, nice. So talking about communications, so as we said, you just launched it recently and you’re in the phase of testing the communications around it. What’s your testing approach?
Isabelle Gola: So first of all, what we test is to understand, I mean, communicating a closed loop product is in my opinion very, very difficult. So you don’t have a lot of time to really bring through the message. In our case, what users see when they buy a product is the product packaging. and the POS itself. And in the best case, they really have a look on our QR code where we can explain much more deeply and wider the whole process of this closed loop. So actually what we test and what we want to understand is, is our message clear enough? what we bring really on the packaging and on the POS and afterwards on our websites for explanation. Is this enough for the user to understand the message? Did we use the right wordings? Yeah. And at the end also, of course, is this message important to the user? Because we know in general our users who buy a power tool in the first step They want to drill a hole. They want performance at a good price. And probably they’re not so much interested in the first step by our sustainability aspects. So this is also something that we want to understand how important is this topic to them. And now coming back to your question, how do we approach this? So. We already sent a lot of information on LinkedIn on our websites and this is the first user feedback here we receive and we of course also analyze here the feedbacks. So we just recently in November only launched it. Until now. through communication, the feedback is very positive. We also, of course, now will understand how it performs in the store itself. So we have a limited edition only and we will need to see beginning of next year, I think will be a good point to validate the first sell-outs was our claim reason for the sellout. This is where we work with our retail partner together. They are so nice and share with us also the questions which come back of this product, sellout figures. We will compare normal tool sellouts to our tool sellout that we can compare these numbers and also collect obviously their feedback and their questions here. The click rates will be analyzed. So I think that we can then have a holistic view on our communication concepts.
Patrick Hypscher: And how do you evaluate that? ideally you do an A-B test, but there’s nothing you can compare it with. When do know that this was successful?
Isabelle Gola: We know when this has been successful by different KPI. So really, for us, we already live and party the success of the technical milestone because it worked out. I mean, this was such a big challenge and a huge work. I think very often we forget to talk about these. milestone successes. this is why I mentioned it. We will, for me, a success will really mean that we have feedback that we can analyze. So to really get out the learnings out of it. So it will be a success once we get the first data. And also if the data and the user feedback will be in the worst case negative, This is a success for me because I know then on what we have to work in the next steps. So this is a little bit difficult to answer specifically your question because I want the returns are for me a success so that we know are we on the right way or do we have to change something? And this will be measured by this. The sellout obviously from a business point perspective, is also a success factor. If the sellout runs very well, of course, this is fantastic because this means until now also the communication was well. But this is not only and I don’t want to only put it on this economic success factor for this piloting.
Patrick Hypscher: Yeah, and true there for the sellout, of course, you can compare it with other, let’s say, campaigns. of course, it’s not a simple A-B test because you have a couple of new, you have a new product, you have a new communication and a new NAL, so you have to look into the qualitative feedbacks there. Did you consider any other form of testing? So for example, not communicating at all, was that ever an option or?
Isabelle Gola: So this was for this product not really an option because we we struggle anyway today and I think all companies when it comes to sustainability product communication due to greenwashing topics. So for us this was not an option. We wanted to learn what are we able and allowed legally to communicate about this. So not talking about it at all for this product doesn’t make sense. But what we see in general is for other products and product lines in some other regions, for example, here we see that it doesn’t have any added value. And in some regions, even recycled materials, for example, has such a bad and negative image that we don’t communicate it. but not in Europe, so this was not an option.
Patrick Hypscher: Okay. And talking about communication, so how did you communicate? So you mentioned the packaging, how is it visible there? And then on the website, and by the way, we will add a link to the website, of course, the show notes. So everyone who wants to look, feel free to do so.
Isabelle Gola: can also for sure buy one.
Patrick Hypscher: Yeah, thanks of course and give feedback. yeah, so what do you communicate?
Isabelle Gola: So on the packaging, we really only teaser the closed loop edition. So we mentioned that it’s a closed loop edition and we point out the claim, give Plastic a second life and linked with a QR code where the users who are interested in this can have really a link to our website. where we communicate all the process. Obviously on the packaging, we also mention our certificate because the whole process is certified by TÜV. This was very important to us to really have a trustworthy communication, which is certified by a third party in order to have 100 % credibility. So this is on the packaging and then we have on a display which is used in the stores the same claim. So plastic deserves a second life where we with some pictures already communicate the whole process from getting back the tools. So the milestones I mentioned before, dismantling, recycling and than using them in our new production. And these are actually the claims in the show itself. Then we have a lot of communication material on our websites. We did a PR. We did the standard, I would say, communication topics. we used LinkedIn as one of our main communication, channels for this case. And what else? I think, no, we, we use really every communication channel that we have at Power Tools to communicate about it.
Patrick Hypscher: Also like Instagram, TikTok is that relevant?
Isabelle Gola: Yes, also, it’s also, so all social media accounts, so we had also an Instagram post. Yeah. And what is very good, and this is what we need really in for these kinds of projects. We need our partners as well to communicate. And of course, the whole partners who set up this whole product communicated strongly. But also our retail partner communicated it, which makes really a big commitment to the product itself and to the topic of circular economy. And I think those are the special things that for a normal product launch we don’t have. of course communicating about specific awards that we got together with HolyPoly and MKFOW was also very important. Yeah, so we have absolutely different levels of communication and very special ones besides our normal product lounge communication.
Patrick Hypscher: Talking about the retail partner, assume Bosch Power Tools has a sophisticated sales channel structure. How did you select the partner for this pilot?
Isabelle Gola: So since we only had limited products for this pilot and or still have, we had a deep dive look into the strategies and the diverse strategies of our retail partners. And we said it has too much with their sustainability strategy, with their focus on circular products. So this was actually the main criteria. I have maybe to mention also that for the DIY retail industry, specific initiative has been set up, which is called Make Zero Initiative, where a lot of retailers who have a focus on this topic as well as suppliers, so Bosch for example as a supplier, in this industry is member of. And this was also for us important that the retail partner is really committed to this topic within this initiative. So this was actually the first criteria. And also region-wise we selected because we wanted to have two regions having a trial. So the first one is in Germany and the second you will get soon. You will know soon, which will be launched beginning of next year. So that we also have two different countries to have different user and retail feedback.
Patrick Hypscher: Okay. And assuming out of in how long do you plan this communication pilot to last?
Isabelle Gola: So for 2026, this will be a focus to really analyze and study this communication pilot.
[00:33:25] Communication Strategy
Patrick Hypscher: So basically you demonstrated technical feasibility and I guess you also had some commercial requirements that you would have said in the meantime, although it might have been technically feasible, but it’s just like too expensive. So assuming you also met them and now you’re testing the market feedback, basically.
Isabelle Gola: Exactly. And maybe because you just mentioned it, it would have been too expensive. So for us, what is very, very important, all products that we launch with sustainability features meet the same price than before. we don’t have an add-on. because this for us doesn’t make any sense. Yeah, we really want our products to have all the criteria’s meeting, also the price point, including our sustainability features.
Patrick Hypscher: Yeah. Isabelle, coming to an end, you already shared so many learnings with the community. Thanks for that based on all your effort and costs and investments. What’s the main learning, a highlight for you, you want to emphasize at the end?
[00:34:43] Isabelle’s Personal Learning
Isabelle Gola: So the main learning is really that. Regardless of the size of the pilot, we have to dare to start. Just start and we will fail and we failed a lot, but we didn’t start with a big big bang, but with one product now. And we also had already had so many learnings. So I think daring to start. Yeah, this is for me the biggest learning and also besides and all the challenges we have internally, externally, just do it. Now, this is my learning.
Patrick Hypscher: Thanks for starting. Thanks for doing it.
Isabelle Gola: Thank you Patrick.
Patrick Hypscher: This was the third episode in our series on recycled plastics for premium brands. In the next episode, we will hear from V-Zug how they incorporate recycled plastics in their standard product portfolio. Until then, let’s drive a profitable circular economy. And please don’t forget, the most abundant renewable resource is your imagination. My name is Patrick Hypscher and this is Circularity.fm the podcast about understanding, building and managing circular business models.