Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford Motor Co. reports that during 2010, its use of EcoLon® material for cylinder head covers in automobiles has kept more than 4.1 million pounds of carpet from being sent to landfills and has reduced oil consumption by more than 430,000 gallons. EcoLon is a nylon resin made from 100-percent post-consumer recycled carpet and manufactured by Wellman Engineering Resins (WellmanER), Johnsonville, S.C.

WellmanER grinds used nylon carpeting into fiber and recaptures the material through a patented, proprietary process to create EcoLon. Dana Holding Corp. — a Maumee, Ohio-based supplier to global automotive, commercial, and off-highway vehicle customers — then molds it into cylinder head covers using an injection-molding process. According to Ford, the cover, which is used in the company's Escape, Fusion, Mustang and F-150 vehicles, is the first automotive product of its kind manufactured from post-consumer recycled nylon.

"We didn't have to make compromises for this application," said Roy Ford, Ford engine sealing supervisor. "With a fixed raw material cost that delivers cost savings compared to oil, along with the green benefit, this application adds to the ways Ford is minimizing our impact on the environment."

Ford recently has begun using more non-metal recycled and biobased materials in its vehicles, including soy foam seat cushions, recycled resins for underbody systems, recycled yarns in seat covers, recycled denim for sound-dampening material, and natural-fiber plastic for interior components.

April 19, 2011