Toyota Group join hands with Thai Government and DOWA GROUP to announce Feasibility Study of “End of Life Vehicle Green Recycling Project in Thailand”

General Surasak Karnjanarat, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment; Mrs. Sunee Piyapanpong, Director General of Pollution Control Department; Representatives from Department of Industrial Works; Representatives from Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand; Mr. Ninnart Chaithirapinyo, Chairman of Toyota Motor Thailand Co., Ltd., Mr. Kiyoyoshi Oba, President of Toyota Tsusho (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Mr. Yoshiaki Sugawara, President of Waste Management Siam Ltd. on behalf of DOWA Group and representatives from the Thai Government jointly announced the launch of a Feasibility Study on the “End of Life Vehicle Green Recycling Project in Thailand”  at a  joint press conference held in Bangkok on 14th December, 2017.

To inspire Thai people to think about the environmental problems around them; and to support the development of a sustainable automotive industry structure in Thailand through End of Life Vehicle management, Toyota Group is cooperating with several government sectors; Pollution Control Department, Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, Department of Industrial Works, and private sectors; Waste Management Siam Ltd. on behalf of DOWA Group to establish a task force team to kick off this feasibility study in Thailand. The main objective of this feasibility study is to evaluate technical feasibility such as dismantling of End of Life Vehicle, recovery of CFCs/HFCs, and collection of parts and materials at a pilot plant.

Toyota is the first automobile company in the world to initiate End of Life Vehicle Recycling with the operation of “Toyota Metal” in Japan which started in 1970. To further expand Toyota group’s knowledge and knowhow of advanced technology for End of Life Vehicle management to other societies, Toyota has established “Toyota Global 100 Dismantlers project”. Through this project, we aim to establish social systems for End of Life Vehicle proper treatment in 100 locations around the world by 2050 without imposing regional environmental impact. Thailand is the first country in ASEAN region to adopt Toyota group’s dismantling plant model as there are many registered vehicles in Thailand but no proper End of Life Vehicle dismantling system. If End of Life Vehicles are inappropriately abandoned or dismantled, it may cause global warming due to the release of refrigerants in mobile air conditioning systems e.g. CFCs gas, HFCs gas. These greenhouse gases affect global warming 124 – 14,800 times* of CO2.

Since April 2017, the project started with establishment of the End of Life Vehicle Recycling task force through collaboration among Government agencies, Toyota group and also DOWA group for feasibility study of End of Life Vehicle management. In November 2017, we started vehicle dismantling operation trial at Green Metals (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Toyota Tsusho Thailand), focusing on recovery of CFCs, HFCs, and hazardous wastes such as airbags, lubricant oil from vehicles .etc. These were sent to Bangpoo Environmental Complex Co., Ltd. and Eastern Seaboard Environmental Complex Company Ltd. (DOWA Group) for proper treatment.

“It is a pleasure for Toyota to join hands with the government and our business partners to start this project. We are going to focus on sharing the necessity of appropriate dismantling of End of Life Vehicles to Thai society. We hope our project can inspire Thai people to realize and take more action in protecting the environment and also to create sustainability of the recycling industry in Thailand in the near future,” said Mr. Ninnart Chaithirapinyo, Chairman of Toyota Motor Thailand Co., Ltd.

Top management Message        

1) President of Toyota Daihatsu Engineering & Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Mr. Tatsuro Takami)

With the aim of sustainable development and contributing to the environment, in October 2015, Toyota had announced the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 which lists six challenges to ultimately create a net positive impact to environment.  This includes a challenge on of establishing a recycling-based society and systems.

Toyota will take the leadership role among automotive company to develop effective and advanced recycling technologies. Through this effort, we aim to build a sustainable relationship between the economy, society and the environment.

Toyota Group and partners initiated the Toyota Global 100 Dismantlers Project around the world. This project aims to develop a scheme that optimizes collection and processing of resources from end-of-life vehicles. Toyota intends to start resource recycling system in Asia Pacific, starting in Thailand and expand to Asia Pacific, creating a new recycling industry.

2) President of Toyota Motor Thailand Co., Ltd. (Mr. Michinobu Sugata)

Thailand is a regional production and export hub for Toyota. Toyota Motor Thailand has become the leader of automotive industry in terms of sales in the country. Toyota would like to thank all our loyal customers who have played an important role in the success of Toyota in Thailand.

Based on the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050, we recognize that the recycling of resources is essential to the achievement of sustainable development, and we aim to develop a recycling-based society in near future.

Toyota group and DOWA group have more than 40 years’ experiences in Car recycling and innovative technologies, we will continue to study and develop these technologies through the first environmental friendly dismantling facility in Thailand to achieve even better results in the future.