Toyoda Gosei expands rubber recycling network

Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd has expanded its rubber recycling programme to include production scrap from Toyoda Gosei East Japan’s Miyagi Kurihara plant, marking the first time the company is collecting rubber scrap from another entity within the broader Toyoda Gosei Group. The collected material will be recycled at the group’s Morimachi facility. The supplier has established the logistics, quality standards and commercial arrangements to collect rubber from multiple sites, laying the groundwork to expand the programme across other group companies and external manufacturers. This initiative is part of Toyoda Gosei’s push to create a circular supply chain for automotive rubber materials, which are notoriously difficult to recycle and are typically disposed of through thermal recovery. The company has been developing rubber recycling technology since the 1990s. In fiscal year 2021, Toyoda Gosei commissioned a dedicated recycling line at its Morimachi plant, achieved ISCC+ certification in fiscal year 2023, and doubled its recycling capacity the following year. Process improvements have increased the proportion of recycled material usable in automotive rubber parts to 20%, up from less than 5% previously. Toyoda Gosei plans to extend rubber collection to additional group companies and outside businesses as it accelerates the development of a circular recycling system.