Susumu Takahashi

President, TAKASEKI Co., Ltd
(440, Tomamori, Kawashima-cho, Hikigun, Saitama 350-01 Japan)

Abstract

The automobile industry, which has mobilized high technology, formed a strong industrial base, and made great progress, has left behind a pressing issue in this century: the problem of total recycling of automobiles, including waste automobiles. In 1992, from the approximately 5 million cars thrown away, about 70% of the contents were reused for old parts, recycled parts, or other resource recycling. The remaining 30% was non-reusable waste plastic varieties, and treated as industrial waste-i.e., landfilled. However, acquisition of new landfill sites becomes more difficult every year due to residents' opposition; and due to rising costs of such treatment, as well as worry about the collapse of smooth recycling mechanisms, at present the relevant industries are investigating recovery of heat energy from waste automobiles.

Key words: waste automobile processing, total recycling, plastic waste varieties, energy recovery, heat recovery