Ford Motor Company announced that it will be using a wheat-straw-reinforced plastic in the interior storage bins of the 2010 Ford Flex. While this might seem like a baby step — and it is — Ford says the change to a 20% wheat-straw plastic will reduce petroleum use by 20,000 pounds per year and CO2 emissions by 30,000 pounds per year. The wheat straw itself is a byproduct of processing the grain.
These numbers are drops in the pollution bucket, but you have to start somewhere. Ford says it will be using the biomaterial in other places and other vehicles in the future. This is in addition to Ford’s soy-based polyurethane seat cushions and headliners, seat fabrics made from post-industrial recycled yarn, and post-consumer recycled resins for underbody covers.
A wee bit of wheat trivia, courtesy of the Ford press release: This isn’t the company’s first foray into the wheat world. In the 1920s, Henry Ford developed Fordite, a mixture of wheat straw from his farm, rubber, sulfer, silica, and more, that he used to make steering wheels.