"The Automobile Industry's Unified Effort to Address End-of-Life Vehicles"

"The Automobile Industry's Unified Effort to Address End-of-Life Vehicles"
The recycling rate for end-of-life vehicles—of which approximately 5 million are generated annually—currently stands at 75% by weight. End-of-life vehicles collected by dealerships and repair shops are dismantled by dismantlers into individual components such as engines, electrical parts, and batteries. Shredding companies then recover iron and non-ferrous metals from the vehicle bodies, after which the remaining shredder dust (1.2 million tons annually) is landfilled at final disposal sites.

However, while end-of-life vehicles were traded for about 10,000 yen per vehicle during periods when scrap iron was expensive, prices plummeted once cheap iron began to be imported due to the strong yen in the late 1980s. Furthermore, as it became apparent that harmful metals such as lead were leaching from some shredder dust, disposal methods shifted to a regulated system in April 1996, causing processing costs to skyrocket by 1.5 to 3 times.

Most of the approximately 140 shredding operators nationwide are small and medium-sized enterprises with weak financial foundations. Some operators have even begun accepting vehicles for a fee, leading to a serious situation where improper processing and illegal dumping are rampant. Consequently, in May 1997, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) compiled the "End-of-Life Vehicle Recycling Initiative" and set a target of achieving a recycling rate of 95% or higher for end-of-life vehicles by 2015.

In response, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) formulated a "Voluntary Action Plan" in January 1998, setting numerical targets for matters that automobile manufacturers should address urgently. Specifically, for new models released in 2002 and beyond, the plan aims to increase the recyclability rate—which indicates the proportion of parts and materials that can theoretically be reused—to 90% or higher. It also sets targets to reduce the amount of lead used in parts (excluding batteries) to half of the 1996 level by 2000 and to one-third of that level by 2005.

Furthermore, the association has established unified industry goals to increase the recycling rate for vehicles already on the market and those still in production to at least 85% by 2002 and at least 95% by 2015, and to reduce the volume of final disposal to three-fifths of the 1996 level by 2002 and one-fifth by 2015. To this end, the association is promoting technological development and providing information.

Automobile manufacturers are also successively formulating their own voluntary action plans. Overall, based on the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association's action plan, they are focusing on initiatives aimed at the early achievement of a recyclability rate of 90% or higher and the reduction of lead usage. For new models to be released in the future, they are prioritizing LCA-based vehicle manufacturing, including the procurement of easily recyclable parts, material integration, and product design that facilitates dismantling.

While implementing these initiatives requires laying the groundwork for future collaboration with the parts and materials industries, the real challenge lies in addressing the large volume of vehicles already on the market that will eventually be scrapped. Although all manufacturers are already engaged in the collection and recycling of plastic bumpers replaced during repairs—albeit on varying scales—there is a need to develop effective disassembly technologies for other components and to establish optimal processing systems for reducing the volume, rendering harmless, and recycling shredder dust.

At the end of 1996, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) installed a pyrolysis gasification experimental facility at Tokai Kiln Service (Yamaoka-cho, Gifu Prefecture) and began experiments to recover fuel gas by pyrolyzing dust containing combustible components. In March 1997, the association established a sorting and solidification demonstration plant in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, where experiments are underway to sort dust into glass, sand and soil, iron, non-ferrous metals, and synthetic resins, then reduce its volume and convert it into RDF (Refuse-Derived Fuel) for use in pyrolysis gasification. If the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of this process can be demonstrated, the plan is to commercialize it on a private-sector basis.

Toyota Motor Corporation is a pioneer in the automotive industry's efforts regarding shredder dust. Toyota Metal (Nagoya), a company specializing in end-of-life vehicle processing established in 1970, boasts the largest processing capacity in Japan and commercialized dust melting and solidification technology in 1996. Furthermore, the company has begun research on thorough dust separation and recycling at a demonstration plant constructed within its Toyota Metal Handa Plant.

The above provides an overview of the end-of-life vehicle measures that the automotive industry has launched as a unified effort.