Blue Rebirth Association aims to transform Japan’s end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling sector with a new AI-driven automated dismantling system scheduled for commercialization in 2028. The system will use robots and artificial intelligence to extract plastics, aluminum, copper and other materials, improving the precision and efficiency of recycling operations.
Formed in June by Denso, Honda, Toray, Nomura Research Institute, MATEC, and Rever, the association now includes Toyota as the lead managing company. The initiative supports a “car-to-car” circular supply chain that returns recovered materials to automotive manufacturing.
Manual dismantling remains common because of differences among vehicle models and conditions. Blue Rebirth President and Denso CTO Hirotsugu Takeuchi said that future vehicle design must account for recyclability from the outset.
The association expects its automated system to recover more than 90 percent of each ELV by weight and process over one million vehicles annually. Standardization of recycled materials is also underway to expand their adoption by manufacturers.
As global momentum toward a circular economy accelerates, Takeuchi noted that Japan’s upcoming Resource Collection Incentive System, starting in April 2026, will further drive the use of recycled materials. “The era of relying on endlessly cheap resources will end,” he said, adding that the approach could expand to collect Japanese vehicles overseas as well as domestically.
Source JARA news
