Photo: Ford
Junk food is scientifically proven to be bad for your health, but you have to applaud McDonald’s for trying to use the huge platform it has to drive change. The latest effort in that sense is a partnership with Ford.
Said partnership will see the discarded coffee bean skins from McDonald’s used to create a new material that can be incorporated into new vehicles. And you thought your McDonald’s coffee didn’t even have that much coffee to begin with!
Ford Motor Company and McDonald’s USA, in collaboration with existing partners Varroc Lighting Systems, which makes headlamps for Ford, and Competitive Green Technologies, which processes coffee chaffs, will work together to reduce waste by reusing it. Coffee chaffs are the dried skin of the coffee bean, which comes off during the roasting process and is usually discarded. Ford wants to use a chunk of that to create a new material.
By adding plastics and additives, and heating the chaff under low oxygen, you can create a new, durable and easily molded material. Ford will be using that to enforce certain parts on its vehicles, from headlamp housing, and other interior and under hood components, a press release notes.
The components made using this new material will be 20 percent lighter, and have better heat properties than what Ford is currently using. They’re also greener, in that they require 25 percent less energy during the molding process.
“McDonald’s commitment to innovation was impressive to us and matched our own forward-thinking vision and action for sustainability,” Debbie Mielewski, Ford senior technical leader, sustainability and emerging materials research team, says. “This has been a priority for Ford for over 20 years, and this is an example of jump starting the closed-loop economy, where different industries work together and exchange materials that otherwise would be side or waste products.”
A “significant portion” of the McDonald’s coffee chaff will be directed in North America to Ford, the same press release notes.
Ford Motor Company and McDonald’s USA, in collaboration with existing partners Varroc Lighting Systems, which makes headlamps for Ford, and Competitive Green Technologies, which processes coffee chaffs, will work together to reduce waste by reusing it. Coffee chaffs are the dried skin of the coffee bean, which comes off during the roasting process and is usually discarded. Ford wants to use a chunk of that to create a new material.
By adding plastics and additives, and heating the chaff under low oxygen, you can create a new, durable and easily molded material. Ford will be using that to enforce certain parts on its vehicles, from headlamp housing, and other interior and under hood components, a press release notes.
The components made using this new material will be 20 percent lighter, and have better heat properties than what Ford is currently using. They’re also greener, in that they require 25 percent less energy during the molding process.
“McDonald’s commitment to innovation was impressive to us and matched our own forward-thinking vision and action for sustainability,” Debbie Mielewski, Ford senior technical leader, sustainability and emerging materials research team, says. “This has been a priority for Ford for over 20 years, and this is an example of jump starting the closed-loop economy, where different industries work together and exchange materials that otherwise would be side or waste products.”
A “significant portion” of the McDonald’s coffee chaff will be directed in North America to Ford, the same press release notes.
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