New Focus draws heavily on refuse

Ford's Focus hatch is spearheading the company's extensive program to up the use of recycled and bio-sourced materials wherever it's technically and commercially feasible.

Part of the company's bid to meet legislative and self-imposed sustainability requirements, the program in Europe has seen it turn the Focus into a veritable black hole for discarded materials like clothing, carpets and plastic bottles.

More than 300 Focus parts are now sourced from recycled materials, diverting what the company estimates to be around 20,000 tonnes of materials away from landfill each year. Another 300 parts draw from fibrous plants like cotton, flax, hemp and jute, along with wood cellulose and plant rubber.

The Focus uses recycled plastics in the heater and air-conditioning housing, air cleaner assembly, battery tray and wheel arch liners. Sources include PET bottles, plastic bottle tops, computer and TV housings and old CDs.

Seat fabrics, roof linings, parcel shelves, instrument panels, carpets, insulation and soundproofing all incorporate recycled textiles from domestic carpets to old jeans. Noise insulation material comes from denim and reclaimed car seat upholstery. Wherever possible, the company replaces plastics with natural fibres.

The key to the strategy's success is the company's Product Sustainability Index (PSI), a comprehensive scorecard detailing the wider environmental, economic and social impact of its products. It tracks the company's progress in a number of areas, including, at product level, recycling and the use of renewable materials, extensive substance testing for factors like allergenic potential, and short- and long-term contribution to climate change, particularly in greenhouse and toxic gas emissions.

Ford is quick to point out the extensive R&D effort that has gone into all this to ensure no compromise to materials quality and durability. It's putting plenty of effort, too, into shifting away from oil-based to bio-based sources for its plastics, rubber, foam, film and fabric materials.  Prospective sources include soy flour, hemp and cellulose.

Of particular interest is a plastic called polylactic acid (PLA), hailing from corn, beet and cane sugars. It's capable of biodegrading in 90-120 days -- a considerable environmental improvement over the millennial life of conventional oil-based plastics.

While PLA will likely be limited in the short term to peripheral applications like protective transit wrapping, Ford sees plenty of potential for it in carpeting, upholstery and injection-moulded interior trim elements in the longer term.

A useful by-product of the shift to natural fibre-reinforced plastics is a cut in weight by volume of up to 30 percent.

Ford has outlined more details in a sustainability report on at microsite.

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