Our cars live on in different forms

Cubes of vehicles

Vehicles arriving at the dismantlers are first drained of waste oils and other fluids. Bumpers, doors, engines, and other parts fit for use as second-hand spares are then removed. The leftovers are flattened in a press and taken to a recycling company. Toyota Times visited Toyota Metal, the world’s only recycling company jointly managed by a carmaker. There, each car is pressed into a cube weighing around 600kg. Several such blocks are hoisted together, crane game-style, into a shredding machine to be pulverized.

Sorting

From there, a conveyor carries them into a building where scrap steel is sorted away from non-ferrous metals such as aluminum and copper. This even includes small quantities of gold and silver. The steel thus recovered is taken to steel manufacturers, where it may again find its way into vehicle bodies—cars made from cars.

Appearances can be deceptive

After the metals have been recovered, what remains is a mixture known as “shredder residue,” which includes materials such as resin, urethane, and glass. To the untrained eye, shredder residue looks like nothing more than garbage. And yet, this too yields resources, as resins and other intermingled materials are also recyclable. The key to turning trash into resources lies in sorting.