FORD Motor launched the EcoSport in 2012, and since then the company has used an estimated 8,262 metric tons of this material. Ford said if this material were laid end to end, it would encircle the world twice over.
The carmaker said its reliance on this material actually stretches two decades back when it started using it for the Ford Mondeo.
Just what is this material?
Recycled plastic bottles. And each EcoSport Ford makes is fitted with carpets fashioned from 470 single-use, 500-milliliter plastic drink bottles. Ford said it now recycles 1.2 million bottles globally per year.
“Consumers have a hugely increased awareness of the harm that simply discarding plastic can do, but we have long been on a mission to increase the proportion of recycled and renewable materials that are used in every new car we make,” said Tony Weatherhead, materials engineer at Ford Motor Co.
The carmaker explained that converting plastic bottles into carpets first involves shredding both the bottles and their caps into tiny flakes. After which these are heated to 260 degrees Celsius, melted down and formed into fibers no thicker than a strand of human hair. The fibers are spun into a yarn by twisting multiple strands of fibers together. The material is then woven into carpets.
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