The carpets are fitted inside EcoSport SUVs and each one is made from 470 single-use plastic drink bottlesFordFord has turned single-use plastic bottles into carpets, recycling containers that would stretch more than twice around the world if they were laid end to end.
The carpets are fitted inside all EcoSport SUVs, and each one is made from 470 single-use plastic drink bottles.
Since the car’s launch in 2012, this has given a new lease of life to more than 650 million 550 millilitre bottles, weighing an estimated 8,262 metric tons.
The plastic bottles are shredded into tiny flakes, before they are heated to 260°C and melted down. They are then formed into fibres the width of a single human hair, and spun into a yarn that is woven into the carpets.
Plastic bottles are shredded into tiny flakes, before they are heated to 260°C and melted down and formed into fibres the width of a single human hair, and spun into a yarn that is woven into the carpetsFord“Consumers have a hugely increased awareness of the harm that simply discarding plastic can do – but we have long been on a mission to increase the proportion of recycled and renewable materials that are used in every new car we make,” said Tony Weatherhead, materials engineer, Ford Motor Company.