Activities at Toyota Manufacturing UK’s Derbyshire facility will begin during the third quarter of this year to develop a centre of excellence for future recycling operations across Europe and worldwide.
The Japanese automotive giant said TCF processing will focus on reusable parts, commodity items that can be remanufactured, and materials that can be recycled.
Following a comprehensive validation process, reusable parts will be reintroduced to the market through retailers or distributors. Commodity items including batteries and wheels will be assessed for their potential remanufacture, repurposing or recycling.
Toyota also intends to recycle raw materials such as copper, aluminium, steel and plastic. These could then replace virgin materials as much as possible in the production of new vehicle parts.
In a statement, Leon van der Merwe, TME VP of Circular Economy, said: “We initially anticipate recycling around 10,000 vehicles a year in our UK facility, which will give new life to 120,000 parts, recover 300 tonnes of high-purity plastic and 8,200 tonnes of steel, among other materials.
“As a next step, we plan to roll out similar operations across Europe. And we’re not stopping at our own facilities – we are eager to collaborate with other organisations who share our passion for circularity and commitment to carbon neutrality.”
With this enterprise, Toyota said it aims to significantly reduce future emissions associated with vehicle and sub-component manufacturing, adding that the initiative aligns with the company’s global and European sustainability objectives and sets a new industry benchmark for recycling and material reuse.
Globally, Toyota aims to achieve carbon neutrality across the vehicle life cycle by 2050. In Europe, TME said it aims to eliminate all CO₂ emissions throughout the entire vehicle life cycle by 2040. TME expects to achieve carbon neutrality at all its European manufacturing sites by 2030, five years ahead of Toyota's global commitment.
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