The automotive industry has come together as one to take action against end-of-life vehicles 1999.04(45)

 The automotive industry has come together as one to take action against end-of-life vehicles.

The recycling rate for ELVs, which account for approximately 5 million vehicles annually, is currently 75% by weight. Scrapped vehicles collected by dealers and maintenance companies are disassembled by dismantling companies into parts such as engines, electrical components, and batteries, and after shredding companies recover ferrous and nonferrous metals from the body parts, the remaining shredder dust (1.2 million tons per year) is buried in final disposal sites.

However, the price of ELVs, which were traded at around 10,000 yen per vehicle when scrap iron was expensive, fell dramatically when cheap steel became imported due to the strong yen in the late 1980s. In addition, the elution of lead and other toxic metals from some shredder dust became apparent, and in April 1996 the disposal method was changed to a controlled type, which increased disposal costs by a factor of 1.5 to 3.

Most of the approximately 140 shredding companies in Japan are small and medium-sized enterprises with weak financial foundations, and some of them are now taking in shredders for a reverse charge, leading to a serious situation of improper disposal and rampant illegal dumping. In May 1997, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) compiled the "End-of-Life Vehicle Recycling Initiative" and set a target of increasing the recycling rate of end-of-life vehicles to 95% or more by 2015.

In response, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) also formulated a "Voluntary Action Plan" in January 1998, setting numerical targets for items that automobile manufacturers must address immediately. Specifically, the plan calls for raising the recyclability rate to more than 90% for new models to be released after 2002, which represents the percentage of parts and materials that can theoretically be reused, and for reducing the amount of lead used in parts (excluding batteries) to one-half of the 1996 level by 2000 and to one-third by 2005. The company also aims to reduce the amount of lead used in parts (excluding batteries) to one-half the 1996 level by 2000 and one-third by 2005.

The industry has also set a unified goal of raising the recycling rate for vehicles already sold and vehicles still in production to at least 85% by 2002 and 95% by 2015, and of reducing the final disposal volume to three-fifths of the 1996 level by 2002 and one-fifth by 2015.

Automobile manufacturers have also formulated voluntary action plans one after another. Overall, based on JAMA's action plan, the plan focuses on efforts to achieve a recyclability rate of 90% or higher as soon as possible and to reduce the amount of lead used. For new models to be released in the future, the plan emphasizes LCA-based vehicle manufacturing, including procurement of easily recyclable parts, integration of materials, and product design that facilitates disassembly.

In order to implement this, it will be necessary to build a foundation for the future, including cooperation with the parts and materials industries, but the issue is rather how to deal with the large number of previously sold vehicles that will be disposed of in the future. Although all companies, large or small, are already working to recover and recycle plastic bumpers that have been replaced for repairs, there is a need to develop effective disassembly technology for other parts, reduce and detoxify shredder dust, and establish an optimal processing system for recycling.

At the end of 1996, JAMA installed an experimental dry distillation gasification system at Tokai Kiln Service (Yamaoka-cho, Gifu Prefecture) and began experiments to dry distill dust containing combustible components to recover fuel gas. If the plant proves to be effective and cost-effective, we plan to commercialize it on a private-sector basis.

Toyota Motor Corporation is a pioneer in the shredder dust business among automobile manufacturers, and Toyoda Metal (Nagoya City), established in 1970 as a company specializing in end-of-life vehicle treatment, boasts the largest treatment capacity in Japan, and in 1996 put its dust melting and solidification technology to practical use. Furthermore, a demonstration plant was constructed at Toyoda Metal's solder plant, and research into the thorough separation and recycling of dust was initiated.

The above is an overview of the measures for end-of-life vehicles initiated by the automotive industry as a whole.