Ford Announces Increasing Use of Renewable and Recyclable Materials

In brief: Ford announced that they are increasing their use of recyclable and renewable materials in their vehicles, including the soy- and bio-based materials in the cushions and seatbacks of the 2010 Taurus.

The word

In 2009, Ford says they saved over $4.5 million by using recycled materials and diverted 25-30 million pounds of plastic from landfills in North America alone. The new Taurus is the 11th vehicle in their lineup to feature bio-based seats.

In fact, Ford has more vehicle models with bio-based seats than any other automaker and is working towards having them in 100% of their fleet.

Many of the plastics in Ford vehicles, such as underbody air flow controllers and body panels, are wholly or partially made from post-consumer (recycled) plastics. Nylon is also recycled to make cylinder head covers in the Fusion and Escape models.

Ford is also experimenting with wheat straw-reinforced plastics for interior components.

And so ...

The company says that their vehicles are 85% recyclable (by weight) on average

Photo credits: Ford Motor