Toyota is advancing its circular manufacturing strategy in the UK by feeding aluminium recovered from end-of-life vehicles into new engine components for Corolla production.

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At Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK’s Burnaston plant in Derbyshire, end-of-life vehicles are dismantled and alloy wheels are extracted for use in the newly launched closed-loop recycling systems.

The extracted wheels are then sent to Toyota’s Deeside plant in North Wales, where they are used in engine component production. The finished hybrid power units are then returned to Burnaston for installation into new Corolla models.

Toyota confirmed the first vehicle with recycled material rolled off the production line on March 19, 2026.

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Leon Van Der Merwe, VP Circular Economy and Energy Business at Toyota Motor Europe, said, "Toyota has a proud history of establishing the Toyota Production System, principles that have become the global standard for manufacturing efficiency.” 

“Now we are applying the same concept to circularity, designing systems that will help ensure the maximum benefits are realised from end-of-life vehicle feedstock.”

The Burnaston facility processes vehicles from multiple brands. It applies reverse production methods based on Toyota Production System principles.

Umit Sengezer, Head of Toyota Circular Factory at Toyota Motor Europe, said, “In the first year of its launch, TCF Burnaston is already delivering excellent results and giving us valuable insights, not just in how we handle vehicle end-of-life processes but also in how we can build circularity into the planning and design of future vehicles.”

Toyota also plans to expand the model, with a second circular factory set to open in Poland later this year.

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