GOOD

Ford will cut down plastic use by recycling McDonald's coffee into car parts

Heidi Lux
12.12.19

McDonalds sells a lot of coffee. Over a billion cups a year, to be exact. All that coffee leads to a lot of productive mornings, but it also leads to a lot of waste. Each year, millions of pounds of coffee chaff (the skin of the coffee beans that comes off during roasting) ends up getting turned into mulch. Some coffee chaff just gets burned, leading to an increase in CO2.

Now, that chaff is going to get turned into car parts. Ford is incorporating coffee chaff from McDonalds coffee into the headlamps of some cars. Ford has been using plastic and talc to make its headlamps, but this new process will reduce the reliance on talc, a non-renewable mineral. The chaff is heated to high temperatures under low oxygen and mixed with plastic and other additives. The bioplastic can then be formed into shapes.

RELATED: The car of the future is so green, it has a garden beneath the hood

Debbie Miewelski, senior technical leader of materials sustainability for Ford, describes it as a "win-win-win-win-win-win." The process reduces food waste, turning it into a useful, greener product. The parts are 20% lighter than the old headlamps, yet they're stronger. They also require 25% less energy during the heating and molding process.

"[Chaff] would be compostable, but in this case, we're making a high-end composite with it," Miewelski told Fast Company. "You're making a higher-end material rather than putting it back into the ground, or worst-case, creating CO2 by burning it."

The Ford x McDonald's coffee waste headlamps are an example of the circular economy. Miewelski wants to see more companies repurpose the waste from other companies in this sustainable way. "My hope is that many parts on vehicles, and many home goods, can utilize some of these materials. I'm convinced that it can happen," Miewelski told Fast Company. "We need to get people in the mindset, this is not waste, these are valuable products . . . the whole circular economy is something we should have been working on for the last 30 or 50 years, but now we have to catch up.

RELATED: 6 attractive alternatives to everyday products that are better for the environment

This bioplastic will be first used in the Lincoln Continental sedan in 2020. Ford hopes to use the material in more cars and more parts. The company has a goal to use only recycled and renewable plastics in its cars. The transportation sector is currently responsible for over 25% of all carbon emissions, so the greener we can make our vehicles, the better.

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Innovators

Tori, the Target manager who was Tweet-shamed by an irate cheapskate, just got a $30,000 vacation

A satisfying conclusion to an infuriating story.

via David Leavitt / Twitter and RealTargetTori / Twitter

Last Friday, GOOD reported on an infuriating incident that went down at a Massachusetts Target.

A Target manager who's come to be known as "Target Tori," was harassed by Twitter troll David Leavitt for not selling him an $89 Oral-B Pro 5000 toothbrush for a penny.

He describes himself as a "multimedia journalist who has worked for CBS, AXS, Yahoo, and others."

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Communities

The world is rallying around Tori, the Target employee Tweet-shamed by an irate cheapskate

via David Leavitt / Twitter

Anyone who has ever worked in retail knows that the worst thing about the job, right after the pay, are the unreasonable cheapskates who "want to talk to your manager" to get some money off an item.

They think that throwing a tantrum will save them a few bucks and don't care if they completely embarrass themselves in the process. Sometimes that involves belittling the poor employee who's just trying to get through their day with an ounce of dignity.

Twitter is rallying around a gal named Tori who works at a Target in Massachusetts after she was tweet-shamed by irate chapekate, journalist, and Twitter troll, David Leavitt.

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Business

A boss in England gives nonsmokers four extra days off a year

via Haldean Brown / Flickr

In a typical work day, people who smoke take more breaks than those who do not. Every few hours they pop outside to have a smoke and usually take a coworker with them.

Don Bryden, Managing director at KCJ Training and Employment Solutions in Swindon, England, thinks that nonsmokers and smokers should be treated equally, so he's giving those who refrain from smoking four extra days to compensate.

Funny enough, Bryden is a smoker himself.

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Health