Toyota to open circular factory in Poland

Toyota Motor Europe is set to expand its circular economy operations with the announcement of a new end-of-life vehicle processing facility in Walbrzych, Poland.

The 25,000 m² facility will process close to 20,000 end-of-life vehicles annually, recovering components and raw materials including copper, steel, aluminium, and plastics for use in new vehicle production.

The Walbrzych will be Toyota’s second such facility in Europe following the launch last year of a similar plant in Burnaston in the UK.

The new factory will expand operations at Toyota’s existing Walbrzych plant, which currently produces components for hybrid and conventional powertrains.

Items such as batteries and wheels will be evaluated for their potential to be remanufactured, repurposed or recycled.

Toyota said Poland was selected due to its “strong market potential to source end-of-life vehicles, recycling upstream and downstream and the presence of our established manufacturing infrastructure”.

The company added that it plans to introduce similar investments in other European markets in the coming years.