Toyota Tsusho's ASR-Derived Recycled Plastic Adopted for Toyota's Front Fenders

Toyota Tsusho Corporation announced that recycled plastic derived from ASR (Automobile Shredder Residue) manufactured by its group company K.K. Planic (“Planic”) has been used for the first time in the front fender seal of Toyota Motor Corporation’s Crown “Sport” in Japan.

Adopting advanced gravity separation technology

The shareholders of Planic are Toyota Tsusho and Kojima Sangyo Co., Ltd. (a group company of Kojima Kogyo Co., Ltd.). Planic is a Japanese recycled plastic manufacturing company. The recycled plastic raw materials used by Planic are collected from Toyota Metal Co., Ltd., a Toyota Tsusho Group company engaged in automobile recycling, as well as from ASR recycling facilities and home appliance recycling plants across Japan.

Due to the difficulty of classifying the collected plastics containing ASR-derived plastics by material, it is challenging to achieve Car-to-Car recycling with high quality requirements, so the plastics are mainly incinerated (thermal recovery). In this context, Planic became the first company in Japan to introduce advanced gravity separation technology and equipment, and put it into practical application in Europe, achieving the production of high-quality recycled plastics and Car-to-Car recycling. This has become a major advantage for the company.

By promoting the use of ASR-derived plastics in car-to-car recycling, Toyota Tsusho and Planic will contribute to the development of a circular economy.