Chapter 12
Efforts to Reduce CO 2 Emissions
in the Japanese Automobile Recycling
Industry
Sosho Kitajima and Hiroshi Onoda
Abstract A CO 2 reduction program “Green Point Club”, researched and developed
by Waseda University and Japan Automobile Parts Recyclers Association (JAPRA),
was announced in 2007 as a groundbreaking effort that has been developed to add
a new “Environmental Contribution Index” to recycling parts. With the momentum
of CO 2 reduction such as abnormal temperature increasing, we promoted the use
of recycled parts of vehicles will help to reduce the CO 2 reduction effect. In this
study, we summarize the CO 2 reduction figures from using recycled parts in the past
10 years in Japan and verified it. We would like to the spread the method such as
cooperation with the administration, information exchange with foreign countries,
point return etc. and aim at further usage expansion.
Keywords CO 2 · Automobile · Used auto parts
12.1 Introduction
It will be 15 years in 2020 since the enactment of the “Act on Recycling, etc. of Endof-Life Vehicles” (Automobile Recycling Law). This effort is evaluated as “generally
going well” by report on the evaluation and examination of the enforcement status of
the automobile recycling system of the Industrial Structure Council of the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan on September 2015. However, as a result of the
China’s movement of import restrictions on waste materials including waste plastics
since Autumn 2018, industrial wastes that had been exported overseas other than
automobiles have been concentrated in domestic shredding and sorting yards, causing
delays in the collection of dismantled end-of-life vehicles for their final disposal.
Apart from scrap business, which has a major impact on economic trends and social
responses, the factor that contribute to the profit stabilization in car dismantling
businesses is selling of recycled auto parts. In Japan, since Bigwave’s predecessor was
launched in 1979, the sales of recycled parts in the automobile aftermarket has been
S. Kitajima (B) · H. Onoda
Graduate School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: kitajima@jara.co.jp
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Kishita et al. (eds.), EcoDesign and Sustainability I, Sustainable Production, Life Cycle
Engineering and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6779-7_12
163
Efforts to Reduce CO 2 Emissions
in the Japanese Automobile Recycling
Industry
Sosho Kitajima and Hiroshi Onoda
Abstract A CO 2 reduction program “Green Point Club”, researched and developed
by Waseda University and Japan Automobile Parts Recyclers Association (JAPRA),
was announced in 2007 as a groundbreaking effort that has been developed to add
a new “Environmental Contribution Index” to recycling parts. With the momentum
of CO 2 reduction such as abnormal temperature increasing, we promoted the use
of recycled parts of vehicles will help to reduce the CO 2 reduction effect. In this
study, we summarize the CO 2 reduction figures from using recycled parts in the past
10 years in Japan and verified it. We would like to the spread the method such as
cooperation with the administration, information exchange with foreign countries,
point return etc. and aim at further usage expansion.
Keywords CO 2 · Automobile · Used auto parts
12.1 Introduction
It will be 15 years in 2020 since the enactment of the “Act on Recycling, etc. of Endof-Life Vehicles” (Automobile Recycling Law). This effort is evaluated as “generally
going well” by report on the evaluation and examination of the enforcement status of
the automobile recycling system of the Industrial Structure Council of the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan on September 2015. However, as a result of the
China’s movement of import restrictions on waste materials including waste plastics
since Autumn 2018, industrial wastes that had been exported overseas other than
automobiles have been concentrated in domestic shredding and sorting yards, causing
delays in the collection of dismantled end-of-life vehicles for their final disposal.
Apart from scrap business, which has a major impact on economic trends and social
responses, the factor that contribute to the profit stabilization in car dismantling
businesses is selling of recycled auto parts. In Japan, since Bigwave’s predecessor was
launched in 1979, the sales of recycled parts in the automobile aftermarket has been
S. Kitajima (B) · H. Onoda
Graduate School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: kitajima@jara.co.jp
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Kishita et al. (eds.), EcoDesign and Sustainability I, Sustainable Production, Life Cycle
Engineering and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6779-7_12
163