There’s a gold rush on of sorts at Ford Motor Co., but it won’t cost consumers a cent, and might even save them money on new cars. The reason: Secrets hears that the car maker known for shunning President Obama’s auto bailouts is eyeing the use of green materials and waste, like millions in shredded dollars, for parts like storage bins and interior trays.
John Viera, Ford’s global director of Sustainability and Vehicle Environmental Matters, plans to test for uses of the 3.6 million pounds of shredded money the Feds burn or dump into landfills every year. Other sources: recycled denim, soybeans and dandelions. The goal is to shift away from every-pricey petroleum products. Each car has about 300 pounds of plastics in them.
“The potential to reuse some of the country’s paper currency once it has been taken out of circulation is a great example of the kind of research we are doing,” said Viera.
Some of the alternatives are already in use. Soybean-based foam is used in seat cushions, saving Ford an estimated five million pounds of petroleum annually. The new Fusion, for example, straw in its plastic bins. Scrap cotton from jeans and T-shirts are in the Escape dashboard. And the equivalent of 25 recycled 20-ounce plastic bottles are in the Escape’s carpet.
