Inside Japan # 39; s Tricked-Out Housing Culture truck
Background Japan is among the 10 countries in the world in terms of car ownership at the end of 2005, there were approximately 75 million four-wheel vehicles in Japan, or a car for 1 to 7 people, compared to the average of 7 people in the world 5 years average use in Japan is increasing, 10 9 years for cars in 2005, and 11 years for 7 trucks.
In Japan, about five million cars are arranged each year these vehicles end of life VLE are still considered useful resources, containing precious metals and coins about a million of them are exported as used vehicles, while the remaining four million are sent from the car dealer to car dismantlers and scrap metal companies to be processed for reuse and recycling.
In the recycling process, self disassemblers first recover engine parts, body components and electrical components, which represent about 20 to 30 percent by weight for vehicle used, to be reused as valuable pieces of about from 50 to 55 percent parts by weight for vehicle not reusable, including some engine components, as well as catalysts, non-ferrous metals and tires; the latter are recycled as raw materials in all, from 75 to 80 percent parts by weight per vehicle is reused or recycled.
Since October 2002, the Law on the recovery and destruction of fluorocarbons requires that fluorocarbons used for car air conditioners recover air bags, which have the risk of explosion, should also be treated properly by a voluntary treatment system .
However, the other parties, which equals 20 to 25 percent of the vehicle weight, used to be shredded and buried as ASR automotive shredder residue In recent years, there has been a greater need to reduce the volume of ASR such as landfill industrial waste capacity approach.
In addition, there is concern rising that the current recycling system may collapse because most auto dismantlers and shredding companies have suffered a drop in profits due to an increase in fees final disposal and lower scrap iron prices is feared that proper disposal will become more difficult and illegal dumping of vehicles increase.
Promote the proper recycling of auto parts, the government enacted the recycling of end of life vehicles commonly known automobile recycling law in January 2005 specifies the roles of automakers law and entities associated with the automobile in recycling used vehicle.
Outline of the law of recycling of end of life vehicles Assuming the use of existing infrastructure to recycle ELVs, the law essentially to 1 agreement with ASR, fluorocarbons and airbags, 2 promote a framework for competition appropriate, 3 minimize the amount of final waste to landfill, and 4 prevent the illegal disposal of ELVs.
Automakers and hereafter referred automakers collectively importers are required to remove fluorocarbons, airbags and ASR vehicles they manufacture or import, and properly recycle destroyed in the case of fluorocarbons them when the vehicles are returned to the elimination.
Owners are required to take their ELVs to registered ELV collection firms, that offer businesses and licensed self-dismantling fluorocarbon recovery companies registered users Last remove air bags and other recyclable components of vehicles remaining vehicles hulls are delivered to dismantlers and converted into ASR Chartered automakers receive ASR, collected fluorocarbons and airbags, and pay recovery costs.
Participating companies are authorized by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Minister of the Environment, and registered or authorized by the prefects.
An e-Manifest system a system to track and manage vehicle information has been put in place which requires companies in the different phases of the automotive recycling report to the information management center each time the relevant transactions between them the system provides integrated management and proper handling of the corresponding information.
Recycling fees are paid by vehicle owners, usually at the time of purchase for vehicles purchased before the date the law came into force, the fees are paid to the first inspection of the vehicle or when the scene vehicles for which no registration or formal inspection is required are given to the ELV collection firms Although recycling fees are determined and announced by carmakers, the government will issue a recommendation or order when costs are considered expenses improper recycling are managed by a third-party fund management institution.
Result law currently ELVs are recycled by 85,000 vehicles collection companies, 22,000 fluorocarbon recovery companies, 5,800 dismantling companies, and 1,200 shredding companies.
recycling costs depend on the type of vehicle and are the sum of fluorocarbon processing fee, airbags and ASR, and those for the management of funds and information processing, amounting to 6000 18 000 yen on US 51-153.
Japan Automobile Recycling Promotion Center JARC, set up by automotive-related industries, is responsible for the management of recycling fees, and information tracking and vehicle management The Center publishes an annual report on its activities Aiming to implement an integrated collection fluorocarbon system and the treatment and airbag transaction and recycling, car manufacturers have contributed funds to establish an intermediary company called partnership Auto recycling Japan JARP which acts as a center for the group's recycling activities .
When collecting and recycling ASR, automakers are divided into two groups A group called the TH-team of Toyota Motor Corp. Honda Motor Co Ltd and six other companies, entrusts recycling operations Toyotsu Recycle Corporation, a Toyota subsidiary the other, called ART-team of automotive shredder recycling promotion team residues, consists of Nissan Motor Co Isuzu Motors Ltd. and nine other companies the steering committee of the ART-team made plans to recycling in alliance with commercial companies.
The annual rates of recycling for ASR were set by law at 30 percent in 2005 to 50 percent in 2010 and 70 percent in 2015, the recycling rate for 2005 was 66 percent on average in the ART-team, 57 percent and 60 percent by Toyota and Honda TH-team, respectively This means that both groups have already reached the 2010 target.
As regards the treatment of ASR, a system has been developed which has the ASR in a gasification melting furnace at high temperature, recycles the solid residues and uses waste heat to improve the recycling rate The JFS website describes an example of one of these.
Let's look at tire recycling According to the Association of Automobile tire manufacturers Japan, 1.022 million tonnes of used tires in 2005, 373,000 tons were exported, re-used as casings retreaded tires or recycled for rubber or crumb rubber and 524,000 tons were used in thermal recycling processes such as metal refining, cement calcination, and energy production.
Each member of the Activities In 1997, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, formerly the Department of Trade and Industry established the end of life vehicle recycling initiative, which set a quantitative target at least 95 percent for the effective recycling rate in 2015 This rate indicates the percentage by weight of recycled parts against the total weight of the ELV.
In order to achieve this objective, each manufacturer makes efforts to create oriented vehicles to recycling from the vehicle design phase as regards the structure of the vehicle, for example, the number of parts and joints are reduced to facilitate disassembly, thereby reducing the amount of ASR created and shorten the time required to remove the vehicles and collect coins.
As regards the materials used in vehicles, manufacturers choose those which can be more easily recycled resin materials are replaced with highly recyclable olefin resins such as polypropylene and polyethylene in addition, they are trying to standardize the materials they use, clearly indicate what they are, and use parts from recycled materials.
Based on the results of these efforts, Nissan has announced that it has reached 95 percent of target recycling rate in the production of March and Note models Each manufacturer is working on improving its recycling rate actively that it is expected that the target rate will be achieved for all models at an early date.
The challenges for the future Eighteen months after the law on the recycling of ELVs was adopted, about 3,050,000 ELVs have been collected for 2005 in the automotive Manifest system, which represents a dramatic reduction 4 million the previous This is probably due to a significant increase in the number of exported used cars and disposed of and changes in the distribution channels of ELV, which would have resulted from the enactment of the law.
automotive industry must respond appropriately to the new situation created by the promulgation of the law, while fostering appropriate and sustainable recycling the same time, they should think about sustainable mobility and their role.
Recycling EndofLife vehicles in Japan Japan for sustainable development, recycling, vehicles, Japan, industry trade economy.