Page 15 from: Recycling International May/June issue

15recyclinginternational.com | May/June | 2025

TRENDS & UPDATES

TOYOTA DRIVES RECYCLING MISSION
Car giant Toyota is setting up a cen-
tre of excellence in the UK to maxi-
mise the recycling of end-of-life vehi-
cles.
The Toyota Circular Factory, at Toyota
Motor Europe’s (TME) manufacturing
plant at Burnaston in Derbyshire, will
begin activities in the third quarter of
this year. TME says it will become a centre for future recycling
operations across Europe and worldwide. The initiative will be
implemented alongside Burnaston’s principal activity of pro-
ducing Toyota Corolla vehicles.
The factory will process vehicles at the end of their life to
maximise the environmental benefits of recycling, repurposing
and remanufacturing.
Toyota Circular Factory is the name given to TME’s overall
recycling activities which are focussed around three key areas:
reusable parts, commodity items that can be remanufactured
and materials that can be recycled.
Reusable parts will be reintroduced into the market through
retailers or parts distributors. Commodity items such as bat-
teries and wheels will be assessed for their potential for fur-
ther use.
Toyota also intends to recycle raw materials such as copper,
aluminium, steel and plastic. These materials would then
replace virgin materials where possible in the production of
new parts for new vehicles. TME says it expects to recycle
around 10 000 vehicles a year in Burnaston, giving new life to
120 000 parts while recovering 300 tonnes of high purity plas-
tic and 8 200 tonnes of steel.
‘As a next step for the Toyota Circular Factory concept, we
plan to roll out similar operations across Europe,’ says Leon
van der Merwe, vp of circular economy for TME. ‘We are
eager to collaborate with other organisations who share our
passion of circularity and commitment to carbon neutrality.’

Shred, Screen and Turn Waste Into Value. With Eggersmann.

Eggersmann GmbH | Rothenschlatt 18 | 26203 Wardenburg | Fon: +49 4407 9133 – 700 | [email protected] | www.f-e.de

STEINERT BOOSTS JAPAN’S AUTOMOTIVE
SHREDDER RESIDUE SORTING

Japanese metals recycler
Matec has upgraded its
advanced processing plant for
automotive shredder residue
(ASR) in Tomakomai.
The facility is one of the largest
of its kind, with an annual
throughput of 30 000 tonnes.

Matec has installed sorters from Steinert to more efficiently recover
end-of-life vehicles.
Matec’s car recycling hub collects and refines shredder light frac-
tions and Zorba materials from six other locations. It features two
new sorting lines: the first targets stainless steel and heavy metals,
while the second line is focused on separating metals from a light
fraction. This means that even particles smaller than 6 mm are pro-
cessed and fed into the recycling process.
The plant in Tomakomai operates 10 Steinert sensor sorting sys-
tems, six non-ferrous metal separators and two electromagnets.
The primary objective of the plant is the recovery of stainless steel
and copper cable materials from the shredder residue.
The heavy fraction line processes the material in various grain sizes
and passes it through several sorting steps. Matec combines induc-
tion, 3D and colour detection technology to get the best results.
These systems are used in succession to ensure efficient separation
in the 30-60 mm and 60-120 mm size ranges.
For fractions of 6-30 mm, Steinert ISS and KSS CLI systems are
used to isolate the cable fraction. Fraction sizes below 25 mm and
above 25 mm pass through non-ferrous separators and induction
sorters, which reject all metals. These metal concentrates are then
processed in a downstream system with X-ray transmission (XRT).
The remaining fractions, consisting of plastic, rubber and similar
materials, are used as fuel for the local cement industry.

10-11-12-13-15_trendsupdatesi14adswb.indd 15 10-04-2025 15:47