“What does Heinz Ketchup have to do with plastics and Ford Motor,” asks Plastics Technology (March 1, 2018). It’s not that the squeeze bottles used for the condiment are found throughout Ford cafeterias. Rather, the automaker and the ketchup maker are working together on finding the ways and means to use the skins from 2 million tons of tomatoes that Heinz processes each year as fillers in composite materials that would be used by Ford for vehicle components.
Looking for alternatives for “conventional” plastic materials is nothing new at Ford. Back in the 1940s Ford experimented with using soy beans as a source of plastics. Now, there isn’t a single new North American-produced Ford vehicle that doesn’t use soy oil for the production of foam that is used for seat cushions, seat backs and headrests. The company started using soy oil for the seats in the 2008 Mustang. This is non-trivial, because on average there are 40 pounds of foam in a vehicle.
Ford has been developing a variety of materials that are: (1) natural, and (2) not typically otherwise used. It started working with forest product giant Weyerhaeuser, which had seen the use of its pulp products in the U.S. diminish as paper production moved off shore. They began testing the use of cellulose fibers from trees, and in 2010 those fibers replaced glass in the Lincoln armrest. Not only did the material meet the functional and aesthetic requirements, but because the natural fibers are less dense, they were able to reduce the weight of the part. There are now 8 bio-based materials used in Fords. These include coconut-based composite materials and recycled cotton used for carpet and seat fabrics.
Classroom discussion questions:
- What other components are carmakers using that are sustainable?
- What are the driving factors in this endeavour?