Steel Recycling

Waste reduction is a primary concern at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, facility. Each year, we get better at producing less waste. And each year, we do a better job of recycling the waste we do generate. Our responsibility is to make sure that less and less waste is headed to the landfill and is instead reused in the manufacturing process.

A prime example of this philosophy is the recycling of steel. Our plant uses an intricate system that turns scrap steel from the stamping process into reusable product. Nearly all of the discarded steel used in the manufacturing process is recycled or reused.

Scrap steel — in the form of 330-pound cubes — is returned to the mill and is eventually put back into the production process as steel coils.

Here is a good example of reusing excess steel. When doors are made in the stamping process the steel from the window area is left over. These squares of top-quality steel are sent to sub-suppliers, who in turn use our steel as their raw material. From this steel, the suppliers make internal structural pieces for the vehicles made at the Kentucky plant.