Visteon Drives Plan to Recycle Post-Consumer Plastic Bumpers
12 November 1998
Visteon Drives Industry-First Plan to Recycle Post-Consumer Plastic Bumpers DEARBORN, Mich., Nov. 11 -- Visteon Automotive Systems has
raised the bar on green with an award-winning environmental program.
In a significant industry first, Visteon plans to reuse plastic vehicle
bumpers collected from salvage yards to help make new bumpers for a variety of
Ford Motor Company cars and trucks beginning next year. The
program, which has won the Society of Plastics Engineers 1998 environmental
award, insures that tons of plastic formerly destined for landfills will be
successfully recycled.
As a precursor to salvage yard recycling, Visteon's Utica and Milan
facilities are implementing leading-edge recycling programs to reuse all of
their painted plastic bumper scrap to make new bumpers. The Utica plant now
recycles approximately 30,000 pounds of Thermoplastic Olefin (TPO) per week
-- about 15 percent recycled content in every bumper produced. Visteon's
Milan Plant will begin using about 30,000 pounds of recycled TPO per week in
December.
The automotive industry uses about 300 million pounds of TPO annually,
according to industry reports. Visteon is the first supplier to implement a
recycling program that uses painted TPO scrap to produce new bumper fascias.
The Utica and Milan plants are using a closed-loop, post-industrial
material system in partnership with American Commodities Inc. (ACI), a Flint,
Michigan recycling company. Post-industrial TPO scrap is sent to ACI for
recovery and reuse back into new vehicle bumpers.
But as Visteon pushes to expand its usage of recycled TPO, it will prove
out material from salvage yard bumpers to fill its material demands.
"Visteon is committed to being an environmental leader in the automotive
industry," said Rohintan K. Deputy, director, Advanced Technology Office,
Visteon. "Our customers want to incorporate environmentally-friendly
components and systems into their vehicles, and we are intent upon providing
them. We are aggressively pursuing technologies that will contribute to a
cleaner environment. We believe this is our responsibility to our customers,
our communities, our suppliers and our employees."
Visteon's planned use of post-consumer TPO will set an automotive standard
in North America. Post-consumer TPO has gone through a cycle of
manufacturing, consumer use and ultimate disposal.
Post-industrial recycled TPO has been tested extensively by Visteon
engineers to insure that it maintains bumper durability, performance and
appearance. In fact, tests revealed that while the use of recycled TPO was
economically feasible, there was virtually no performance difference between
bumpers made from virgin material and those made with some recycled TPO
content.
"Our goal is to recycle all of the plastic that Visteon uses," said
Daniela Olejnik, an advanced manufacturing engineer for Visteon. "We tested
the recycled TPO for a year and met all product performance requirements for
this material. We proved that post-industrial recycled TPO performs exactly
like virgin material -- and helps us protect the environment and save money."
The Utica and Milan plants are manufacturing bumpers with recycled content
for the Ford Taurus wagon and for the Lincoln Town Car, Lincoln Continental,
Lincoln Navigator and Mercury Sable.
Visteon's future demand for additional recycled TPO has spurred ACI to
establish a network of 400 collection centers across the country to pull
bumpers from vehicles delivered to salvage yards. In order to verify bumper
material content, only bumpers from specific year, make and model vehicles are
being pulled.
American Commodities has developed a proprietary process for removing
paint from the used bumpers -- a major recycling breakthrough. Prior to the
development of this process, most bumpers could not be recycled because the
industry did not have an efficient, cost-effective way to remove paint and
dirt from their surfaces.
"Post-industrial recycled TPO is so resilient and cost efficient, we
actually have approval to use 100 percent regrind in our operations," said
Anthony Brooks, a materials engineer with Visteon.
A number of other Visteon facilities have been recognized for their
environmental initiatives and leadership. Visteon's Sheldon Road plant in
Plymouth Township, Michigan, Charleville-Muzipres plant in northern France,
and Enfield plant near London, for example, are using plastic recycled from
soda bottles and tops to manufacture components that have 25 percent recycled
content.
Visteon's carpet to car parts process of recycling large quantities of
used commercial carpet into vehicle engine air cleaner housings won the Grand
Award and Environmental Award from the Society of Plastics Engineers. Visteon
expects all of its global manufacturing facilities will be ISO 14001 compliant
by the end of 1998.
Visteon, an enterprise of Ford Motor Company, has 82,000 employees located
in 21 countries. Visteon has 82 plants, including 32 joint ventures, and 37
sales offices, engineering and technical centers. Visteon's corporate
headquarters is located in Dearborn, Michigan.
