The bean skin called chaff, after being heated, mixed with various additives like plastic, and converted into pellets, functions as a support material that can reinforce various car parts that can be placed inside or outside the hood.
Compared with the traditional components that the bean skin parts — which are around 20% lighter — are replacing, 25% less energy is used to create them; Ford states that these parts "are significantly better than the currently used material."
This collaboration supports the company's goal of using renewable and recyclable plastics in vehicles globally. McDonald's, on the other hand, "is on its way to sourcing 100 percent of its guest packaging from renewable, recycled or certified sources by 2025."
Ford and McDonald's have plans to continue working together to develop further ways to re-use and recycle waste material into usable products.
