Reviving waste paper as "flower-blooming recycled paper" and giving back to the community. Toyota Motor Corporation × Dealerships: "In-Store SX" to realize a circular society.

Recently, efforts to realize a circular economy and achieve a sustainable future have accelerated. "SX (Sustainability Transformation)," which simultaneously pursues the sustainability of both society and companies, is now an indispensable perspective in corporate management strategy.

Against this backdrop, Toyota Motor Corporation is exploring "TOYOTA CIRCULAR ACTIONS" as a new sustainability initiative. As a trial for this initiative, we spoke with Mr. Taku Saito of Wains Toyota Kanagawa Co., Ltd., Mr. Yu Ito of TOYOTA CONIQ Pro, Inc., and Mr. Takashi Arima of Dentsu Inc.'s Sustainability Consulting Office about the outline of "Toyota's Seed," its implementation process, and results, each from their respective perspectives.

"Toyota's Seed": Reviving Waste Paper into "Flowering Recycled Paper"

Arima: We have now launched a trial for our new project, "TOYOTA CIRCULAR ACTIONS," aimed at passing the baton of resources to the next generation. "Toyota's Seed" is an initiative that recycles waste paper from offices and stores into seed paper embedded with plant seeds, then returns it to customers. When this seed paper is soaked in water and buried in soil, it germinates within days and eventually blooms. First, could you explain the background behind this project's launch?

Ito: Toyota is advancing decarbonization efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by reducing CO2 emissions throughout a vehicle's entire lifecycle—from "manufacturing" and "transportation" to "use" and "disposal/recycling." We also implement various environmental conservation activities, pursuing a broad range of initiatives to achieve our 2050 goal, the "Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050."

However, communicating these activities to consumers proved challenging, prompting us to explore more tangible actions. This led us to focus on dealerships, the points of contact closest to our customers. Toyota dealerships have already been working towards carbon neutrality, such as by reducing CO2 through digitizing paper product catalogs. While individual dealerships had been implementing their own initiatives, we believed that uniting over 4,300 stores to undertake further collective action would create a greater opportunity to raise awareness among more customers.

We consulted with Dentsu Inc.'s Sustainability Consulting Office and launched "TOYOTA CIRCULAR ACTIONS" as a Toyota Motor Corporation project. As a trial initiative, we planned "Toyota's Seeds" and approached Wayne's Toyota Kanagawa for their cooperation in implementing it.

Arima: How did you, Mr. Saito, perceive this initiative?

Saito: I belong to the SDGs-related department at Wayne's Toyota Kanagawa. The Wayne's Group has been engaged in various SDGs activities, such as participating annually in the tree-planting initiative "Creating Forests that Nurture Life in Tanzawa" and holding experiential classes on welfare vehicles and wheelchairs for elementary school students. The "Waynes Original Natural Water" we have here today is sourced from the Tanzawa mountain range, where we conduct our tree-planting activities. Recognizing these efforts, in April 2020, we became the first automobile sales company in Kanagawa Prefecture to be registered as a "Kanagawa SDGs Partner."

While the Wayne's Group has undertaken various initiatives like these, the broad scope of SDGs activities made planning our Next Action challenging. Amidst this, receiving the proposal for "Toyota's Seed" truly excited me.

The office paper recycling Action leads to changes in awareness and behavior for each employee

Arima: Mr. Saito, could you please explain the outline of the "Toyota's Seed" trial once again?

Saito: Before full implementation, we wanted to explore the initiative's significance and potential impact. We planned to distribute the product at an event and gather customer feedback. So, in July 2024, we distributed seed paper and conducted a survey at the Fan Appreciation Day event for Kawasaki Frontale, the professional soccer club for which Wayne's Toyota Kanagawa serves as an official partner.

Arima: How was the internal reaction when implementing the trial?

Saito: First, we placed a collection box at the head office for one week and collected 3kg of waste paper needed for seed paper production. Initially, we were concerned whether we could gather that much waste paper, but we reached the target far faster than expected—in just three days. This showed us the high level of awareness among employees and their deep empathy for the project. I believe each person took the trouble to visit the collection box precisely because they were conscious of global environmental issues and were thinking, "Is there something I can do to contribute?" It was a small thing, but seeing it lead to behavioral change was a very positive outcome.

Arima: Plant seeds take time to grow from planting to blooming. This initiative leveraged that characteristic, aiming to sustain the customer experience over the long term. How were the actual customer reactions and survey responses?

Saito: We distributed 250 seed papers and received about 210 survey responses. Overall, the feedback was highly positive. At the venue, we also heard surprised reactions from customers like, "Wait, this paper has flower seeds in it?" and "Wow, you can do things like this now?" We're sharing these customer voices with our employees and exploring how to utilize them going forward.

Expanding the Circular Economy Cycle by Fostering a Sense of Ownership in Everyone

Arima: Based on this trial, could you tell us about the future plans for "Toyota's Seeds"?

Saito: Starting this fall and winter, we're beginning efforts to raise awareness, such as distributing seed paper at events. By continuing these activities at various events, we hope to inform many people about the Wains Group's sustainability initiatives.

Furthermore, the "2027 International Horticultural Exposition" (GREEN×EXPO 2027) will be held in Yokohama. We also hope to distribute seed paper there, helping many people feel closer to plants and contributing to greening efforts.

Arima: While "Toyota's Seeds" involved collecting waste paper from dealerships, what is the vision for the actions under "TOYOTA CIRCULAR ACTIONS"? Could you also share your outlook on how you plan to expand these activities?

Ito: For example, we envision expanding activities closer to people's daily lives, such as replacing car-related items used in stores with reusable materials. However, starting with small actions—including carbon neutrality initiatives already underway across the Toyota Group—we aim to reduce CO2 emissions at dealerships and showrooms.

Furthermore, I believe that when store employees take ownership of communicating these activities to customers, it will help customers develop a sense of personal connection to the issue. I truly believe that expanding these efforts one step at a time is crucial.

Saito: While we've discussed this within the SDGs context so far, we must now consider carbon neutrality from a broader perspective. With 2030 and 2050 targets being set globally, what initiatives should we pursue? We want every employee to personally embrace decarbonization and connect it to foundational, company-wide efforts.

Additionally, in July 2022, the Wains Group welcomed the professional basketball team "Yokohama B-Corsairs" as a member of our group. We are currently exploring a project to transform the paper-based cheering goods used at games into eco-friendly and ethical novelty items to give back to fans. Through such initiatives, we envision building a circular economy system.

Arima: By creating mechanisms that connect with areas like sports initiatives—where benefits can easily be returned to consumers—we can help businesses, government, and consumers alike take ownership and significantly expand the circular economy's cycle. We also want to support the creation of such mechanisms.

To advance in-store SX initiatives, both employees and customers need to understand the activities. This trial, through concrete actions like collecting waste paper and planting seed paper to grow flowers, likely provided opportunities for both employees and customers to personally consider the realization of a circular society as their own responsibility.