At Toyota, our environmental commitment extends across our operations through the full life cycle of our products - from design to production to use to disposal. We are developing and managing vehicles and technologies through their "life-cycle assessment" footprint. To reduce waste in our manufacturing plants and processes, we make all possible uses of the 5Rs - refine, reduce, reuse, recycle and recover energy.

• We have reduced our water usage per vehicle by 20% since 2003 and continue efforts to improve water management.
  
  
• Through our aggressive use of waste management and recycling, our North American plants have reduced their landfill waste by 96% or more since 1999.
  
  
• We are continuing to evaluate materials from renewable resources such as a plastic made from corn and natural fabrics for vehicle interiors. For example, we have introduced a soy oil-based polyurethane foam for use in passenger seats in the Corolla and the Lexus RX.
  
  
• Currently, our End of Life Vehicle (ELV) recycling/recovery rate is over 90% with a goal of 95% ELV recycling/recovery by 2015.
  
  
• The use of metal returnable shipping containers in our parts distribution network has saved over 30 million pounds of wood, 10 million pounds of cardboard, and $20 million in packaging costs, since the program launched in 2003.
  
  
• We have extensive programs to reduce the use of substances of concern (SOCs) in vehicles, minimize undesirable emissions from manufacturing operations, and further improve vehicle emission standards.