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Ford Shows Off Recyclable Car

Posted by michael on from the drives-itself-to-the-junkyard dept.

Opspin writes "MBDC (who wrote the book Cradle to Cradle) write in their January Newsletter about a Ford Concept Car that includes Bluetooth technology as well as Cradle-to-Cradle design strategies. Read the MBDC press release, and the Ford Motor Company press release."

8 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Disposable cars by Ponty · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd like to have the opportunity to throw away a Ford Focus. Sure it probably has all of the proper bullet points, but there are lots of very nice cars out there with the right price/feature ratio that actually have a _soul_!

  2. Google Cache by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Photos in Google's cache can be found here.

  3. An excellent expansion of . . . by privacyt · · Score: 5, Interesting
    . . . an already-ongoing policy. Ford's "Model T of the 21st century" is evolutionary, not revolutionary. So while I salute Ford, don't take the corporate press releases at complete face value. :)

    For decades the automobile has been the most recycled consumer product. First a discarded automobile is stripped of its vauable parts. Ever attend a 'all-you-can-carry' day at an automotive salvage yard? A huge crowd of people disassembling autos for the parts they need. Doors, hoods, dashboards, engines, alternators, seats, anything....

    Also note, that the majority of stolen cars are stolen for their parts.

    After striping, depending on the car and its arrival condition it can be anything from a stripped shell to pretty much intact. At this point the car is crushed.

    The crushed car is then put through a shredder, then through various processes the metals are separated and depending how advanced the facility, the plastics and other materials.

    BTW, under consideration in europe for auto recycling has beena dismantling approach. Where the automaker takes the car back and actually diassembles it, rather than using a crusher and shreadder.

    Even if one is displeased with the actual amount of automotive recycling, the fact remains, it is higher than other consumer products.

  4. Re:Ugly thing by hether · · Score: 5, Informative

    To prove my point, I found some more photos of the thing. Especially notices the seats.

    From the Detroit Auto Show
    http://www.corral.net/photopost/showgallery.php?ca t=539&thumb=1

    and From this story

    http://www.evworld.com/images/ford_modelu_2.jpg
    http://www.evworld.com/images/ford_modelu_1.jpg

    --

    Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.
  5. Ford Sucks by inc01 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't forget that Ford really sucks.

  6. Re:Cars have been recyclable for quite a while. by Inda · · Score: 5, Informative
    Unless it hasn't been possible to melt down old cars and make new products out of them until now?
    When I worked for BMW Rover Body and Pressings I saw a lot of waste metal. There is even a scrap metal merchant next door who would probably go bust if the plant was to shut down. Most of the scrap metal is used to make central heating radiators if I remember correctly. NONE of it goes back into making cars though - the quality of it is just too poor.
    --
    This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
  7. What does it say... by Viceice · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...about car manufacturers who boast about their cars being easily recycled instead of their cars being engineered to last a lifetime?

    --
    Sometimes I wish I was a plumber, then I'd know how to deal with other people's shit.
  8. Check out German cars for recycling.. by zlexiss · · Score: 5, Informative

    Because of the European take-back regulations, BMW and other automakers have been designing their cars to be taken apart and recycled faster and easier for several years now.

    Back in one of my environmental engineering classes, we saw a film on one of these take-back plants. It took a couple people just an hour or so to strip a BMW from all its recyclable parts, including stuff like draining (and saving) the fluids, pulling off all plastic parts, etc.

    And BMW is always watching and feeding back into the design process. They've reduced the types of plastics used to have less bins and sorting involved. They've reduced the use of gluing, welding, and riveting of parts on and replaced with mechnical fasteners (screws, bolts), making it easier to take apart. Instead of a taillight assy having two types of plastic (lens, backshell) being glued or rivetted together, now its one type that may snap together.

    German car fetishists may voice concern that stuff like this may reduce the quality or performance of their favorite vehicles, but to me that means they aren't as purist as they claim, they don't trust the same engineers that designed their favorite cars in the first place.