Established in 2003 and headquartered in Nagoya, Japan, ARBIZ Corporation is a leading recycling enterprise. The name "ARBIZ" stands for "Art Recycling Business"—reflecting the company’s vision of refining recycling processes into an art form while operating as an industry leader ("ACE").

Key Milestones:

• 2004: Initiated automotive recycling operations.
• 2005: Expanded into scrap shredding, plastics, and paper recycling.
• 2008: Commissioned a dedicated e-waste recycling plant.
• 2019: Attained R2 Certification and launched a specialized digital device recycling facility.
• 2025: Launched plant development dedicated to advanced aluminum sorting and recycling.

ARBIZ Corporation employs approximately 180 staff members across a 112,000-square-meter facility, processing diverse waste streams including plastics, paper, glass, and metals.

The company achieves an impressive ~55% metal recovery yield (shipments relative to receivables) and a 99.7% overall automotive recycling rate—underlining its operational efficiency and commitment to circular economy principles.

Recognized as Japan’s premier recycler in Automobile Shredder Residue (ASR) recovery, ARBIZ transforms even lightweight dust—traditionally destined for energy recovery—into high-value steelmaking auxiliary material using a specialized Thermoreactor. In the wake of rising global energy costs, demand from steel mills for this product has surged.

Continuing its track record of innovation, ARBIZ is now targeting horizontal (closed-loop) aluminum scrap recycling. To meet the stringent quality standards required for furnace-direct secondary aluminum, deploying Austin AI's LIBS sorting technology proved to be the essential solution.

LIBS has emerged as the definitive optical emission technology for rapid elemental analysis in metal recycling. By accurately detecting alloy chemistries at high speeds, LIBS-based sensor sorters have become an indispensable stage in aluminum processing lines—enabling secondary smelters to segregate mixed scrap into alloy-specific, furnace-ready streams. 

When evaluating technology partners for our Nagoya plant, ARBIZ management conducted an extensive global search. During our visit to Austin AI Europe’s testing center in Budapest, we conducted thorough trial runs using our own production scrap across multiple sorting programs on the Austin AI LIBS platform. 

Firstly , based on precisely set Si% we were able to separate wrought and cast aluminium fractions with 100% purity and very high extraction efficiency.

Further on, we sorted not only 6063 but 5052, 3005, ADC12 and other specific alloys by given elemental compositions. The Austin AI LIBS always gave exceptionally high purity of the required alloy fraction at reasonably high throughput and reliably performed even as low as <0.1% elemental concentration levels, too. The Austin AI LIBS provides high flexibility. Easy to change from one sorting program to another.

It is known that the Austin AI mechanical design is far more different from all others with the belt-type feeding. The complete system uses a two-step vibratory feeder to distribute the material across the width of the feeder plates, providing a singular distribution of the pieces and thus analyzing each piece when 'free-falling' down along the unique chute design into the laser path. It has a very unique and also simple design with a powerful laser that etches down to bare metal for coatings, like: painted material, corroded material, and thin polymer material. It means there is no need for a so-called ’cleaning’ laser ahead of the analytical laser. No moving parts, easy to handle and an easy-to-work-with LIBS system.

Considering all our needs, our choice fell on the Austin AI LIBS sensor sorter. The system was installed and commissioned a few weeks ago and we are proud to be the first company in Japan to run a high throughput, LIBS-based sensor sorter.

Japan has a highly developed aluminium industry, despite having no domestic bauxite reserves or primary aluminium smelting operations. Instead, the country relies entirely on imports of primary aluminium while excelling in aluminium processing, recycling, and sustainability efforts.

Japan is one of the largest global consumers of aluminium, utilizing it in key industries such as automotive manufacturing, electronics, packaging, and construction. Due to the high energy costs associated with aluminium smelting, Japan ceased primary aluminium production in the 1980s, shifting its focus toward refining, processing, and recycling.

The Japanese aluminium industry is dominated by leading companies where ARBIZ Corporation has a key role, supplying high purity, specific aluminium alloys to those who are specialized in producing aluminium sheets, extrusions, and precision components for high-tech applications.

By prioritizing sustainability and technological advancements, ARBIZ Corporation continues to set a global example in aluminium recycling and resource efficiency, reinforcing its commitment to a greener and more resilient industrial future.

‍

ARBIZ Corporation
14-24 Showa-cho, Minato-ku
Nagoya, Aichi 455-0026, JAPAN
information@arbiz.co.jp
https://www.arbiz.co.jp/

‍

View the original publication