McDonald's and Ford team up on coffee-bean headlights?
Another day. Another post featuring Mickey D’s. This one, though, took me a second to get my head around.
The iconic American burger joint has teamed with the iconic American car brand.
We’re tracking so far.
The collaboration has to do with coffee and cars.
OK, still with you.
The big news is that Ford is going to make some of its automotive parts from discarded McDonald’s coffee husks.
I admit it. I did NOT see that one coming. Explanation, please. Thank you, CNBC.
When heated and mixed with plastic and other additives, coffee chaff can be formed into pellets and then various other shapes.
Ford is planning to use a chaff composite for interior car components and under the hood. As a result, the car parts will be 20% lighter — better for fuel efficiency — and provide the company with up to 25% energy savings during the molding of the parts.
The first auto component to be produced using the chaff will be headlamp housings. With help from Competitive Green Technologies, which processes the coffee chaff for Ford, and the automaker’s supplier Varroc Lighting Systems, the headlamp housings will go into production by the end of the year for the Lincoln Continental.
Each headlight housing uses chaffs from about 300,000 beans. They are also more durable because the chaff composite can withstand heat better, according to Debbie Mielewski, senior technical leader of Ford’s sustainability and emerging materials research team.
McDonald’s plans to divert a “significant portion” of its North American coffee chaff to Ford. In 2018, the fast-food giant served about 822 million cups of hot McCafe coffee in the United States alone.
Both companies plan to continue exploring new ways to work together on sustainability efforts — including using more of McDonald’s scraps.
“They must have a lot of ketchup discards — tomato skins and peels and seeds,” Mielewski said in an interview. “What about their French fry potato peels? We’re convinced we can probably do some chemistry and make something out of those as well.”
Photo via Ford
Hmmm. Interesting. Hey, if it works just as well, and there is benefit to the car, driver, coffee consumer and the planet…why not? Makes me think about Reebok’s “plant-based” kicks that dropped yesterday. Innovation that benefits the environment and the end-user? I’m in.
Given Ford’s general push towards electric, driver-less vehicles and an overall increased focus on sustainability, re-purposing coffee scraps doesn’t feel so pulled from the scrap heap of ideas any more. And, clearly, there are larger conversations happening between these two corporate behemoths. Now, how much longer until this duo starts to link arms even more, but with less “egalitarian” goals in focus?
BigMac deals for life with your Explorer? Coffee cards to fuel your Escape?
I’ll keep eyes on this road.