Abstract
In recent years, there have been strong demands for an effective recycling program. Although a number of fields requires prompt actions, several structural problems prevent us from implementing them. What makes the problems more difficult is the many facets of the infrastructure that are needed within the recycling network. Experimentally, it is possible to recycle almost all automotive component and part materials. However, in order to conduct recycling efficiently, the following seven items are crucial; 1) Establishing an appropriate network, 2) Ensuring sufficient amount of components/parts to be recycled, 3) Balancing the amount collected with the amount recycled, 4) Recycling technologies, 5) Guaranteeing recycled parts quality, 6) Making recycling commercially viable, and 7) Obtaining cooperation from all those involved in the network. This paper deals with the approach toward bumper recycling taken by Honda, the pioneer among Japanese companies to recycle bumpers. Those requirements can be roughly divided into two areas, namely technological and infrastructural, and must be synchronously implemented to achieve the recycling targeted. In this paper, we will explain not only the technological aspects but the more practical infrastructural aspects, whose importance was driven home in the process of creating this system.