Vehicle Recycling Initiatives in the Product Design Stage

Examples of Initiatives

Developing Materials Suited to Recycling

Daihatsu is working to reduce the number of different materials used, both by promoting the development of thermoplastic resins, which are well suited to recycling, and by unifying the materials necessary for the manufacture of automobiles.

Establishing Technologies for Using Biodegradable Plastics

Biodegradable plastics can be completely decomposed after their disposal through the actions of microbes. In addition, by using plant-based resources instead of fossil fuels, which may face resource constraints in the future, biodegradable plastics have the potential to be CO₂ emissions-free materials. Daihatsu established a technology to introduce biodegradable plastics into the resin parts materials.

Actively Introducing Recyclable Vehicle Design

In Japan, as much as 99% of vehicles are recycled in close collaboration across users, government agencies, dismantlers, waste disposal companies, and automobile manufacturers guided by the Act on Recycling of End-of-Life Automobiles. As part of the collaboration, the automobile manufacturers develop designs of vehicle structures that make it easier to dismantle and separate parts (recyclable designs) to help resource recycling.