In Europe, Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK’s (TMUK) Burnaston plant in Derbyshire is home to the first Toyota Circular Factory, a first‑of‑its‑kind project establishing methods and standards for a future network of circular facilities across the region. Building on this progress, a second TCF will open in Poland this year.

At Burnaston, aluminium recovered from alloy wheels at TCF-UK is processed and prepared for re‑use, then supplied to Toyota’s Deeside plant where it is incorporated into engine component production. These hybrid power units then return to Burnaston for installation in new Toyota Corolla vehicles, effectively closing the loop from old wheel to new engine. The first vehicle benefiting from this circular process came off the line on 19^th March, marking a significant step forward in Toyota’s ambition to expand the use of recovered, recycled and re‑used materials and parts.

Using Toyota Production System (TPS) principles, the TCF goes beyond optimising the recovery of parts and materials from end‑of‑life vehicles. It evaluates how circular approaches can support more efficient vehicle design, manufacturing and lifecycle management in the future.

The importance of circularity today 

The TCF directly supports the goals of the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050, a series of environmentally focused targets announced in 2015 to provide Toyota with a framework for achieving carbon neutrality in all its global products and operations - a status it aims to reach in Europe by 2040. In particular, it aligns with the fifth challenge, the building of a recycling-based society and systems.  

The importance of circularity in Europe is increasing with new regulations requiring more efficient recycling and materials recovery, reshaping the landscape of end-of-life vehicle disposal. Toyota sees this as an opportunity to create new industrial models that can deliver greater materials traceability and anticipate future requirements rather than simply meeting them.  

Circularity provides a clear, practical approach to keep resources in use for as long as possible, as the highest value.  

In practice, the key benefits are:  

• Reduced dependence on and use of virgin materials
• Design of vehicles for easier dismantling, re-use and repair
• Extending vehicle lifecycles through safe and standardised refurbishment techniques
• Efficient recovery of materials at vehicle end-of-life
• Returning recovered materials back into manufacturing processes 

Choosing TMUK Burnaston 

TMUK Burnaston was chosen as an ideal location to initiate the circular factory concept as the UK has one of Europe’s largest end-of-life vehicle markets. As it is one of very few right-hand drive nations in Europe, most of the vehicles sold here remain in the country through to the end of their lifecycle. This has led to the development of a mature and highly experienced dismantling sector and learning ecosystem. 

Moreover, TMUK was the first Toyota operation in Europe to manufacture hybrid vehicles, putting in place a strong foundation of manufacturing expertise and technical know-how. Since the start of operations in 1992, Burnaston has produced more than five million cars and has already embedded a number of circular processes within its drive for environmental excellence, including recycling streams and the use of recovered materials. For example, aluminium recovered from car wheels at TCF-UK is recycled into new engine casting at TMUK’s Deeside plant in North Wales before being reintroduced on the assembly line at the Burnaston plant. 

Step-by-step process 

TCF Burnaston operates a step-by-step process for handling end-of-life vehicles which covers not just their dismantling but also analysis of how recovered parts and materials can be reintroduced into the circular manufacturing concept. And it isn’t just Toyota and Lexus vehicles that are handled: models from multiple brands are processed, giving broader insights into dismantling methods, the composition of different materials and different real-world vehicle experiences. 

It differs from established dismantling operations in that it benefits from the same Toyota Production System methodologies that have transformed global manufacturing efficiency. Effectively these are being applied “in reverse” to maximise circularity efficiency and results. 

The first stage involves the controlled deployment of airbags to ensure safe handling before dismantling begins. Throughout the dismantling process, all fluids and gases are then carefully removed using compliant, monitored procedures.

Next comes standardised dismantling, carried out by trained technicians who bring their Toyota manufacturing experience to the task, applying familiar assembly methodologies in reverse.

The recovered materials are then sorted and classified, with careful separation of metals, plastics and mixed items for efficient downstream processing. 

This enables early-stage research into how these can be repurposed and identification of pathways to bring them back into the manufacturing value chain. Learnings are also gained into how materials behave, their durability and how easy or difficult they are to access in the dismantling and recovery process.  

In the longer term, this will help inform the design of vehicles that are easier to repair, dismantle and manage at the end of their lifecycle. TCF’s structured reverse manufacturing provides a feedback loop into Toyota’s product designing, helping the company progress towards establishing systems in which resources can be re-used with maximum efficiency. 

Alongside dismantling, the Burnaston site has also introduced vehicle refurbishment to safely and consistently extend a car’s lifecycle. Each refurbished vehicle is assessed, graded, and validated to Toyota standards, drawing on the plant’s established manufacturing and quality-control expertise.

Future plans 

Following the launch of the first TCF at TMUK Burnaston in summer 2025, Toyota has already announced a second location in Europe at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland’s Wałbrzych plant, the next step in building a regional network of circular operations with the potential to go beyond Toyota’s own activities and contribute to the wider manufacturing ecosystem.