Ford said in a press release that it hopes to create a sustainable bioplastic material out of the agave plant after the juice has been extracted to make tequila. Henry Ford unveiled the soybean auto in 1941, made of agricultural plastic. In 2012, Ford also collaborated with Heinz, Coca-Cola, Nike, and Procter & Gamble to form the Plant PET Technology Collaborative (PTC), a strategic working group focused on accelerating the development and use of 100% plant-based PET materials and fiber in their products.
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“The fibers”, Debbie Mielewski, Ford’s senior technical leader of the sustainability research department, told me.
In addition to being eco-friendly, the new material would help reduce the weight of the parts in question, like storage bins, HVAC units and wiring harnesses, thus resulting in increased fuel efficiency.
Each plant takes a minimum of seven years to mature. The heart of the plant is roasted, mashed up and used for distillation. Together Cuervo and Ford plan to develop a sustainable bioplastic material out of agave to use in cars and trucks to give the byproduct of the tequila process a second life. The rest is used for compost, or made into crafts and agave paper by local artisans living near the company’s Mexican farms. But that’s exactly what’s going on between a Ford and Jose Cuervo. As the world’s No. 1-selling tequila, we could never have imagined the hundreds of agave plants we were cultivating as a small family business would eventually multiply to millions. Founded in 1795, it has been making tequila for more than 220 years with the same experience, craftsmanship and recipes that have been handed down generation through generation. The two companies are experimenting with ways to turn agave byproducts into bioplastics that could be a more sustainable alternative to conventional plastics.
The project is part of Ford’s #FarmtoCar campaign, an initiative that aims to replace petroleum-based plastics with plant-based materials in Ford’s vehicles.
Agave could be as effective as the other sustainable-based materials Ford uses, including soy foam, castor oil, wheat straw, kenaf fiber, coconut fiber and rice hulls, Mielewski pointed out. “Our job is to find the right place for a green composite like this to help our impact on the planet”. It’s a fraction of what’s said to be 5 billion metric tons of agricultural biomass waste produced annually.
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Jose Cuervo is now packaging up some of its remnant agave fibers and sending them North of the border – all the way to Dearborn, Michigan.
