Jaguar Land Rover has announced that its future models will feature interiors made from plastic waste recovered from oceans and landfill.

The new innovative material – called Econyl – is set to be used on key areas of JLR’s cars, namely on the floor mats and trims. The material comes from recycled plastics generated from clothing manufacturers, fishing nets and other ocean plastic waste.

Similar materials are already used in the fashion and sports industry as a more sustainable alternative to traditional plastics.

Econyl is created by Aquanil, a company which recycled as much as 40,000 tonnes of waste each year, with 10,000 tonnes of Econyl said to save 70,000 barrels of crude oil.

Once the new material is produced, Jaguar Land Rover says it offers the same performance as traditional mats and is said to remain ‘premium and hardwearing’.

Adrian Iles, senior engineer of interior systems at Jaguar Land Rover, said: “Our designers and engineers are committed to developing the next generation of sustainable materials that will feature on future Jaguar and Land Rover models.

“We place a great deal of focus on the creation of new sustainable materials, using the latest, most innovative techniques and textiles. Minimising waste, re-using materials and reducing carbon emissions sits at the heart of our Destination Zero mission. This pioneering materials research is one of the key ways we’ll achieve this and is an integral part of our design offering to our customers.”

The firm already offers sustainable materials on selected models – including an interior made from Eucalyptus on the Range Rover Evoque, along with a woolen and suede material known as Kvadrat on the electric Jaguar I-Pace.