While eco-conscious consumers consider the latest electric, hybrid and other high-mileage vehicles, Ford Motor Company has launched two new initiatives aimed at improving the sustainability of its manufacturing operations.
Last week, the company announced that its 2012 Focus Electric will be the first of several upcoming models to feature seats made of recycled plastic bottles.
The fabric, known as REPREVE® is a polyester made from post-industrial fiber waste and post-consumer waste, including plastic water bottles made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate).
Each Focus Electric will contain the equivalent of 22 bottles in what Ford is touting as the first, 100% “clean technology” interior.
The company is already using recycled and/or recyclable content in its interiors, including soy foam seat cushions and head restraints, wheat straw-filled plastic, castor oil foam in instrument panels, recycled yarns and natural-fiber plastics.
The announcement comes on the heels of another sustainability initiative to reduce by 30% the amount of water used in manufacturing its 2015 vehicles relative to 2009 levels.
The new effort builds upon the automaker’s 2000 Global Water Management Initiative, under which the automaker reduced its global water use by 62 per cent, or 10.5 billion gallons, between 2000 and 2010.
If the new target is met, the company will have reduced water consumption per vehicle from 9.5 cubic metres to 3.5 cubic metres over the course of 15 years.
Source : www.ecology.com
