Ford’s sustainable materials strategy is to identify opportunities to use recycled or renewable material – in place of nonrenewable virgin material – in its vehicles.

KS City, MO -- (SBWire) -- 04/30/2012 --When Ford Motor Company first began to research sustainable materials to use in car production in the early 2000s, petroleum was relatively cheap. A barrel of oil was $16.65, compared to the high of $109.77 hit this year. A decade ago, plastic and petroleum-based parts were so inexpensive that it was too costly to effectively change manufacturing methods that had been in place for nearly a century.

That didn’t stop Ford engineers from exploring future options for materials that could lower environmental impact while providing similar performance. In fact, the lack of urgency became an advantage. “We were left alone to get creative, take our time and figure out where and how these – and future – sustainable materials might fit into our vehicles and processes, and that’s great news for both our customers and the environment,” said Dr. Debbie Mielewski, technical leader of Ford’s Materials Research and Innovation team.

Soybeans were the first step to sustainability. Henry Ford began experimenting with them a century ago, but real efforts began 10 years ago when agricultural groups approached Ford seeking uses for over-abundant crops of soybeans. Ford researchers began development of soybean-based foams that could meet stringent Ford performance and durability standards. The foam was eventually used in seat cushions, which account for about 25 pounds of foam used in a single vehicle. The use of soybean cushions in all new North American Ford vehicles saves approximately 5 million pounds of petroleum a year.

Ford is exploring other alternatives to petroleum-based materials, from shredded retired currency to cellulose from trees, Indian grass, sugar cane, dandelions, corn and coconuts. These materials are either sustainable and environmentally friendly, or already plentiful and in need of disposal. For example, more than 3.6 million pounds of retired paper currency is shredded annually and either compressed into bricks and landfilled or burned, so Ford is currently testing its suitability for inclusion in interior trays and bins of their vehicles.

Other non-metal recycled and bio-based materials currently in use include
- The new Fusion contains the equivalent of slightly more than two pairs of average-sized American blue jeans as sound-dampening material to help eliminate unwanted road, wind and powertrain noise
- Kenaf, a tropical plant in the cotton family, is used in the door bolsters of the Escape, offsetting the use of 300,000 pounds of oil-based resin per year in North America.
- Ten pounds of scrap cotton from blue jeans, T-shirts, sweaters and other items go in to the Escape’s dashboard
- The equivalent of 25 recycled 20-ounce plastic bottles helps make the Escape’s carpet
- Focus Electric uses a wood-fiber-based material in its doors and recycled plastic bottles in its seat fabric
- Flex has wheat straw in its plastic bins
- Taurus SHO uses a micro denier suede made from 100 percent recycled yarns

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