If you live anywhere near a local brewery--or you visit one frequently enough--you might know that very often the "spent hops" and grains, the by-products of making beer, can be re-used in creative ways. Some innovators have created dog biscuits from the material, some breweries send it to farms to be used as animal feed, and still others compost it to create rich soil for home gardens in Grapevine and beyond.
But Ford is experimenting with by-products of a different process; and they've teamed up with Jose Cuervo to see if it's possible to create car parts out of the agave byproducts that come from creating the company's signature tequila.
Now, as we all know, alcohol and cars are usually a bad combination. But for a company that already utilizes materials like soy foam, castor oil, wheat straw, cellulose, wood, coconut fiber, and rice hulls in the production of basic small parts, a new bioplastic made from the byproducts of alcohol production could be a huge step forward for cutting out waste from the automotive industry.
Ford has said it has hopes for the new bioplastic to be a major source of material for car parts like cup holders, storage bins, wiring harnesses, and more. With about 400 pounds of plastic going into every typical car that is produced in America, finding eco-friendly ways to trade out conventional plastic with recycled plastic and bioplastic is a big win.
Integrating materials made from processed Agave plants would just be one more sweet way that Ford is committing to sustainability.
Check out the video below to see how they do it.