News | July 28, 2003

Toyota's New Pilot Bio-Plastic Plant Offers New Environmental Solution

Tokyo (JCNN) - Toyota Motor Corporation (TSE: 7203) has announced its plans to construct a pilot plant for producing bio-plastics (polylactic acid) made from annually renewable resources like sugarcane. The new pilot plant, to be built within an existing production facility in Japan, is envisioned to be able to produce 1,000 tons of bio-plastics a year.

Toyota has been promoting research and development of bio-plastic manufacturing technology and has already started using TOYOTA Eco Plastic--automobile-use bio-plastics with improved performance in terms of durability, heat resistance and other aspects--by adopting it in the completely redesigned Raum passenger vehicle that debuted in May.

Having verified the viability of its bio-plastic manufacturing technology, Toyota says the next step will be to investigate the feasibility of reaching cost and quality targets during mass production at the pilot plant. Using sugarcane as the base material, the entire process will be carried out at the plant, from fermenting and purifying lactic acid to polymerizing polylactic acid.

Since the base material of bio-plastics is a plant like sugarcane, which absorbs CO2 from the air as it grows, bio-plastics contribute to the prevention of global warming, compared to conventional petroleum-based plastics. Furthermore, bio-plastics can be given biodegradable properties that allow them to be broken down into water and carbon dioxide by microorganisms in the ground, helping to solve waste disposal problems.