Toyota Motor Europe announced the launch of a new circular factory in Walbrzych, Poland, aimed at scaling  the company’s capabilities to process vehicles at the end of their life cycle and advance its circular economy strategy.

According to the company, the factory is expected to process close to 20,000 End-of-Life vehicles annually, and will facilitate the recovery and recycle of key components including  batteries and wheels. Materials such as copper, steel, aluminium and plastics will be recovered and reused in the production of new vehicles.

The new investment marks the second circular factory for Toyota in Europe, following the launch last year by the company of the first circular facility in the UK, with an initial capacity to recycle around 10,000 cars annually.

The company said that the investment enhances its strategy to develop a circular economy model based on the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle, lowering the demand for carbon-intensive raw materials and reducing emissions. Toyota has set a goal to achieve carbon neutrality in its entire business across Europe by 2040.

Leon van der Merwe, Vice President of Circular Economy at Toyota Motor Europe, said:

“We selected Poland due to the strong market potential to source End-Of-Life vehicles, recycling upstream & downstream and the presence of our established manufacturing infrastructure. In the coming years we plan to introduce similar investments in other European markets.”