Ford & Heinz Team up to Recycle Tomato Waste into Bioplastcs

Ford has teamed up with ketchup manufacturer, Heinz, to explore the possibility of recycling tomato waste into bioplastic car components. According to the auto manufacturer, researchers from the two firm are investigating the use of tomato fibres in developing sustainable, composite materials for use in vehicle manufacturing. Specifically, the company said that dried tomato skins could be recycled into wiring brackets in a Ford vehicle or the storage bin for holding coins and other small objects in the vehicle. “We are exploring whether this food processing byproduct makes sense for an automotive application,” commented Ellen Lee, plastics research technical specialist for Ford. “Our goal is to develop a strong, lightweight material that meets our vehicle requirements, while at the same time reducing our overall environmental impact,” she added. Ford (NYSE: F) explained that around two years ago it began collaborating with Heinz, The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), Nike (NYSE: NKE) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) to accelerate development of a 100% plant based plastic to be used to make everything from fabric to packaging and with a lower environmental impact than petroleum-based packaging materials currently in use. At Heinz, researchers were looking for ways to recycle and repurpose peels, stems and seeds from the more than 2 million tons (1.8 million tonnes) of tomatoes the company uses annually to produce its best-selling product - Heinz Ketchup. “Although we are in the very early stages of research, and many questions remain, we are excited about the possibilities this could produce for both Heinz and Ford, and the advancement of sustainable 100% plant-based plastics,” said Vidhu Nagpal, associate director, packaging R&D for Heinz. Ford said that over recent years it has increased its use of recycled non-metal and bio-based materials, such as the fibre-reinforced console components and rice hull-filled electrical cowl brackets introduced in the last year, The company added that its bio-based portfolio now includes eight materials in production. Other examples are coconut-based composite materials, recycled cotton material for carpeting and seat fabrics, and soy foam seat cushions and head restraints. Read More Every Electric Ford Focus to Contain 22 Recycled PET Bottles Ford plans to divert approximately 2 million plastic bottles through the use of REPREVE seat fabric in its new Focus Electric. VIDEO: Research Progresses on Bioplastics from Pulp Waste in UK A research project led by Biome Bioplastics has demonstrated the feasibility of extracting organic chemicals from lignin found in pulp waste for the manufacture of bioplastics. VIDEO: Affordable Drone Aircraft for Mapping Landfill Void Following modifications to its unmanned autonomous drone for scanning landfill sites and calculating available volumes, Lehmann Aviation has cut the cost of its LA300 aircraft to under €4000.