Easy answer--because they convert discarded currency into recycled material for car parts.
Make sure you use the below link to watch the video after you read this story. This is a piece that will convince you that, with some ingenuity, we can reuse everything. Ford's imagination and R & D around moving away from fossil-fuel based plastics is remarkable. As you watch this think about what a great think tank they've become and a great, inspiring place to work.
That is how a company transforms.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-ford-is-partnering-with-the-federal-reserve-142825177.html
By Nicole Goodkind
July 31, 2015 10:30 AM
At Ford’s (F) material sustainability lab in Dearborn, Michigan you’ll find a hodgepodge of seemingly random junk—shredded money, dandelions, tomato stems and tree pulp. All of these items would typically be headed towards a landfill, but with the help of senior technical lead Deborah Mielewski they’re being turned into car parts instead.
“My job is to replace petroleum-based plastics with plant-based materials and I’ve been at it for about 15 years now,” she explains. Mielewski is currently developing a process to turn dandelion stems into rubber, tomato parts and old money into plastic and algae into foam. She’s already created a soy-based foam that’s used in the seats of a range of Ford vehicles.
Plant-based materials are more quickly biodegradable and better for the environment than their petroleum alternatives. The biomaterials also reduce the weight of a car and increase fuel efficiency—an added bonus.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Mielewski tells us while explaining how Ford collects byproducts from companies like Heinz (KHC), Coca-Cola (KO) and Weyerhaeuser (WY) to experiment with. “We were at a meeting with Heinz having a nice glass of wine in the evening and they mentioned that they had billions of pounds of tomato fiber, seeds and stems from making ketchup that they didn’t know what to do with. So I said ‘why don’t you ship some to me’ and they did,” she says. Mielewski learned how to dry the material and mix it with plastics, creating what is likely the world's first tomato-based plastic material. She’s looking into turning the material into car mats for Ford vehicles.
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One of the sustainability lab's biggest partners is the Federal Reserve, which shreds thousands of pounds of old money each week. Money, which is made of linen and cotton, actually makes a great base for plastic says Mielewski. “We grind it up, put it into plastic and mold coin bins.” Each bin has about $400 worth of shredded currency in it, and while the bins aren't in Ford cars yet, Mielewski is confident that they soon will be.
Watch the video above to see a tour of the lab.
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