Japan will require automakers to recycle about 70 percent of crushed waste from automobiles by fiscal 2015, government officials said this week.
The Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plan to oblige automakers to recycle about 30 percent of crushed waste in fiscal 2006.
The recycling ratio will then be lifted to some 50 percent in fiscal 2010 and around 70 percent five years later, said officials from the ministries.
The target figures will be formally set under an automobile recycling law that will be fully in place by the end of next year.
Currently, some 80 percent of scrapped automobiles by weight are recycled, including parts. The remainder, mixture of such different materials as resins and textiles, is crushed.
Around 550,000 to 750,000 tons of crushed waste is produced annually, most of it buried in landfill sites.
The Japanese auto industry already has set its voluntary target of recycling more than 95 pct of out-of-use automobiles in 2015.
The ministries judged it possible for the industry to achieve the goal, if some 70 percent of crushed waste is recycled, the officials said. Jiji Press