The ever industrious Ford has teamed up with McDonald's, taking their coffee scraps and turning them into car parts. Coffee chaff is the dried husk of the coffee bean that falls off during roasting. This by-product is considered somewhat of a nuisance to coffee roasters because so much of it is produced. Now, Ford has developed a process to heat the chaff, combining it with plastics and other additives to create a composite material. Ford intends to use this composite for interior and under the hood parts. They are already making headlight housings out of it! Ford says they would like to expand their usage of recycled material, even hinting at using ketchup and potato skins. "We're convinced we can probably do some chemistry and make something out of those as well" says Debbie Mielewski, senior technical leader of Ford's sustainability and emerging materials research team. Ford and McDonalds could make a major impact on the problem of food waste with this initiative. Additionally, the composite parts are far lighter than traditional plastic, increasing fuel economy thus reducing emissions.
