Initiatives for "Resource Recycling"

The 3R concept (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) is becoming ever more important in all phases of product life cycles, from development and production to use and final disposal, in order to create a recycling-oriented society. The Yamaha Motor Group set “promoting recycling and the effective use of limited resources” as a goal and has undertaken various initiatives to create a circular economy.

Going forward, we will continue to adopt various approaches to conserve natural resources and enhance recycling efficiency. In addition to actively utilizing recyclable materials, we are reducing the number of parts and making them smaller by pursuing optimal size. We also use LED technologies to lengthen product life while adopting designs that facilitate dismantling and improving the recyclability of parts. Our aim is to improve the applicability of the 3R concept to our products.

Reduction of New Resource Use through the Use of Renewable Resources

― Shift to Sustainable Materials Centered on Recycled Materials^*1

To ensure the sustainable use of resources in the future, we are promoting resource recycling initiatives.

In particular, we believe it is necessary to promote the 3Rs of materials, the adoption of materials with low CO₂ emissions during production and the use of natural material–based resources.

We have now established medium- to long-term targets related to resource recycling and set a goal of switching 100% of materials used in our products to sustainable materials by 2050.
As a basic policy, we will promote the shift to materials that are easy to recycle after use, assuming the use of market-based systems for product recycling.

*1 “Sustainable materials” is a general term that includes recycled materials, green materials (such as those produced using renewable energy), and biomass materials

① Aluminum alloy initiatives

As of now, 85% of the aluminum alloy used for in-house production has already been switched to recycled materials and 5% to green materials.
The remaining virgin materials are used for components that require high functionality and strength, making it difficult to switch to recycled materials up to this point.
For cast aluminum alloys, we are working on the development of recycled materials that satisfy equivalent functionality and strength to virgin materials and plan to proceed with the switch going forward.

In addition, for rolled materials currently using virgin aluminum, we have partially adopted green materials smelted using renewable energy since 2023 and plan to expand the volume used. Through these efforts, we plan to switch 100% of aluminum alloy used for in-house production to sustainable materials by 2030.

② Use of electric furnace steel sheets for packaging steel frames

Yamaha Motor has become the first company in Japan^*1 to begin applying low-carbon, circular steel—electric furnace steel sheets—as the raw material for the packaging frames used in motorcycle product shipments. We are gradually expanding the scope of their application.

Electric furnace steel sheets are a type of recycled material manufactured by melting iron scrap such as that from building demolition, discarded home appliances, and end-of-life vehicles in an electric furnace and then rolling it. Compared with conventional blast furnace steel made using iron ore and coke, electric furnace steel significantly reduces CO₂ emissions during production. In collaboration with Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd., we verified the performance and quality of electric furnace steel sheets for use in packaging frames and began applying them to motorcycle packaging frames starting with October 2024 shipments. We plan to gradually expand the scope of application to increase the use ratio of recycled materials in packaging frames.

In line with the “Yamaha Motor Group Environmental Plan 2050,” which aims to achieve carbon neutrality across the entire supply chain, including business activities, by 2050, we are promoting the adoption of green materials and expanding the use of recycled materials toward the shift to 100% sustainable materials.

※1 Yamaha Motor internal research (July 2024)

Yamaha Motor First in Japan to Adopt Low-Carbon Recycled Steel for Motorcycle Packaging Frames -- Expanding the scope of use for steel sheets produced by electric furnaces to progress toward our goal of carbon neutrality with raw materials -- | News

Motorcycle Recycling System

The motorcycle recycling system in Japan is a voluntary initiative to promote the appropriate disposal of scrapped motorcycles and the recycling and reuse of resources and to achieve a recycling-oriented society. In 2024, the recycling rate was 97.8%. Along with promoting the use of the motorcycle recycling system, the Yamaha Motor Group takes responsibility for the appropriate disposal and recycling of Yamaha end-of-life motorcycles that customers wish to scrap.

Recycling System for Small FRP Boats

The recycling system for small boats (boats, yachts, personal watercraft, fishing boats, etc.) made from glass fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) is mainly carried out by the Japan Marine Industry Association's FRP Boat Recycling Center. After scrapped FRP boats are taken to subcontracted, designated collection centers and roughly disassembled, FRP materials are taken to an intermediate processing center where they are crushed and sorted, and finally calcined to cement for recycling (material thermal recycling).

Yamaha Motor participates in this recycling system, and takes responsibility for appropriately disposing of and recycling FRP boats that customers wish to scrap and have recycled.

Measuring and Reducing Water Consumption

The Yamaha Motor Group is working to reduce consumption of water. In accordance with our 2050 goal of "reducing water usage in production activities," we continue to strive to measure our global use of water and reduce consumption Groupwide through programs including the reuse of coolant water and water collection (rainwater and other sources) at factories, the reuse of water using reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, posters to remind employees to conserve water, and the installation of water-saving packing in faucets.

In 2024 Yamaha Motor's water intake volume was 1,107 thousand m³ and wastewater volume was 1,171 thousand m³.

Breakdown of Water Intake at the Yamaha Motor Group (thousand m³)

	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Underground water	1,472	1,615	1,576	1,536	1,503
Industrial water	731	859	946	583	779
Tap water	1,002	1,226	1,228	1,396	1,569
Other fresh water	380	328	300	115	45
Total water intake（fresh water）	3,585	4,028	4,049	3,630	3,897

Note: Breakdown includes estimated figures.

Scope: All 146 major facilities, including Yamaha Motor and its 138 consolidated subsidiaries
In principle, figures are rounded off to the nearest whole number. Therefore, the total does not necessarily match the sum of each item.