Bugaboo’s material transition resulted in a 68% lower carbon footprint
Updated: 6 hours ago
Lower carbon footprint, lighter weight, and the same durability. These are some of the benefits Bugaboo has achieved through a material transition from PA6 to PP from Polykemi. As the global market leader in premium stroller, Bugaboo developed one of their latest launches, the Dragonfly Plus stroller, using a carefully selected range of PP materials.
More than a reduced carbon footprint
A transition from glass fiber-reinforced PA6 to glass fiber-reinforced PP made a significantly lower carbon footprint possible for Bugaboo.
“With the material transition, we reduced the carbon footprint of the affected components by 68%. We went from 21.9 kg CO₂-e to 7.1 kg CO₂-e/kg material. We also experienced several other benefits from this material transition. We see excellent technical performance, and we reduced the stroller’s weight by 0.75 kg because the density of the material is lower than that of PA6,” says Ruben Kempes, Sustainability Engineer at Bugaboo.
"These are all changes that bring significant benefits to our product."
Another factor contributing to lower emissions in this collaboration was the geographic proximity of production.
“With both Polykemi and Bugaboo manufacturing in China, we don’t need to ship material all over the world, which helps keep transportation-related emissions low,” says Ruben Kempes.
Designed around the material
Reducing the carbon footprint is a core Bugaboo commitment and this material transition does exactly that, without ever compromising their high quality or safety standards.
“Our product needs to be absolutely safe, it is designed to carry small children. It needs to withstand hot, cold, and humid weather conditions since it is used outdoors, globally. It must be able to handle being thrown into a car, be easy to carry, and it should also look good! By considering material selection from the start of the stroller’s development, we were able to evaluate each component and determine which material would be ideal for that specific application,” says Ruben Kempes.
The key was to customize the level of glass fiber reinforcement for each component. Some components use 30% reinforcement, some 20%, and some none at all.
“Polykemi’s materials account for 38.5% of all plastic material used in the Dragonfly Plus. The fact that we use these materials is strong evidence of how successful this material transition has been,” says Ruben Kempes.
A solution inspired by materials used in electric vehicles
PP materials with varying levels of mineral reinforcement are commonly used in the automotive industry, where there are high demands for durability combined with low weight.
“Especially in electric vehicles, which have become a major manufacturing success here in China, we see that this transition from PA6 to PP is common and provides many advantages,” says Michael Cao, Chief Commercial Officer at Polykemi Asia.
"Together with Bugaboo, we found that our PP materials could meet their requirements, both technically and in terms of reducing their carbon footprint."
More material transitions to come
As part of its overall sustainability strategy, Bugaboo continuously evaluates new materials. From lowering carbon footprint, reducing chemical use, moving away from fossil-based materials to circular design.
“Circularity is already on our radar. ‘What can we do to move closer to using recycled materials, or even create a closed-loop material system?’ These transitions take time, but they are our next steps forward,” says Ruben Kempes.
