Flow of resource recycling (ultimate goals)

Our aim is to achieve a sustainable mobile society through automobile recycling. Based on the three approaches of reducing the use of substances that will end up as waste (reduce), reusing what we can (reuse), and recycling materials whenever possible (recycle), we are striving to use limited precious resources effectively and recycle them efficiently in all stages of a vehicle's life cycle (from development to disposal).

Recycling Law, which set a 95% recovery rate*1 as the target to achieve by 2015, Nissan moved its own target up by five years, incorporating it into the Nissan Green Program 2010 (NGP2010). We hit this target in fiscal 2006, four years ahead of NGP2010 and nine years ahead of the legal requirement. We are now aiming to reach this 95% target on a global basis.

At the development stage, Nissan vehicles are designed to reduce their use of environment impacting substances and make them easier to recycle, with consideration even to the point of reducing automobile shredder residue, or ASR, created during recycling. To reduce reliance on nonrenewable resources, we also give consideration to the use of recycled plastics and other materials, as well as renewable biomaterials. Material reclaimed from bumpers exchanged in repairs is recycled for use in new vehicles. We are also examining the possibility of recycling material from ELVs for use in new vehicles, exploring methods to overcome the technical challenge of maintaining their quality. Nissan is planning to actively use recycled material from non-ELV sources as well, including home appliances and plastic bottles, and will continue to make effective use of limited resources.

Nissan is working to reduce as much as possible the waste generated during the production phase, while also promoting reuse and recycling. Reused parts provide new value in the sales and service phase.

Moreover, we research ways to make dismantling and recycling easier at the end of a vehicle's life. We then share the knowledge and techniques gained in this stage with people involved in the earlier phases of the lifecycle to improve the total process. Nissan places particular emphasis on recycling used cars into new vehicles to the greatest extent possible, rather than into other products, without sacrificing material quality.

Through such measures Nissan seeks to achieve its ultimate goal of a 100% recovery rate*2 for all byproducts of its production and other business activities. We hope to expand our resource recycling approach through connections with different groups in society, as well as through partnerships with industries outside our own.

• *1 In Japan, the Automobile Recycling Law has set an equivalent of 95% end-of-life-vehicle(ELV) recovery rate as the target to be achieved by 2015.
• *2 Recovery rate: The percentage of the amount of waste that is recovered including heat recovery out of the total amount of waste generated.