Toyota will start reusing components from old cars

Toyota Motor Europe is launching Circular Factory, an initiative aimed at recycling, reusing and recovering parts from used vehicles. The first facility will open in the UK at TMUK Burnaston in the third quarter of 2025 and will become a centre of excellence for future recycling operations across Europe and the world.

Here's What We Know

Toyota Circular Factory will operate in three main areas:

• Parts Reuse - once inspected, some components will be returned to the market through retailers or parts distributors.
• Remanufacturing and recycling - batteries and wheels will be evaluated for reuse or recyclability.
• Material recycling - copper, aluminium, steel and plastic will be recycled to produce new parts to replace virgin materials as much as possible.

In the first phase in the UK, Toyota plans to:

• Recycle 10,000 vehicles annually
• Remanufacture 120,000 parts
• Recover 300 tonnes of plastic
• Save 8,200 tonnes of steel

According to Leon van der Merwe, Toyota Motor Europe's vice president of Circular Economy, the company plans to expand this approach to the whole of Europe and is willing to co-operate with other companies that share the principles of environmental responsibility.

Circular Factory. Illustration: Toyota

This initiative will run in parallel with the core operations of TMUK's Bernaston plant for the production of Toyota Corolla cars.

Toyota Motor Europe has committed to becoming fully carbon neutral by 2040 and achieving carbon neutrality at all of its plants by 2030. By 2035, Toyota aims to achieve a 100 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions across its entire European product line-up.

Source: Toyota