福特将用麦当劳的咖啡来制造汽车零部件

福特将用麦当劳的咖啡来制造汽车零部件

It’s not just humans who run on coffee anymore. Cars will soon follow suit.

不仅仅是人类在喝咖啡，汽车很快也会效仿。

Ford recently partnered with McDonald’s to convert coffee waste into car parts — an environmental initiative to curb rampant plastic pollution and emissions created by both java and automobile production, reports CNN.

据美国有线电视新闻网报道，福特公司最近与麦当劳公司合作，将咖啡废料转化为汽车零部件，这是一项环保举措，旨在遏制java和汽车生产过程中产生的猖獗的塑料污染和排放。

To do it, technicians heat up the coffee chaff — the husk of the bean that gets discarded during roasting — and cut it with plastics and other additives, according to CNBC. They can then use the java-infused substance to create eco-friendly molds for a variety of car components for Ford.

据美国全国广播公司财经频道报道，为了做到这一点，技术人员将咖啡糠(咖啡豆在烘烤过程中被丢弃的外壳)加热，然后用塑料和其他添加剂将其切开。然后，他们可以用这种含java的物质为福特的各种汽车零部件制作环保模具。

The resultant auto parts will be 20 percent lighter — and therefore more fuel-efficient — and save the company up to 25 percent more energy during their manufacture. Not only that, but the Macchi-auto parts are more durable, says Debbie Mielewski, senior technical leader of materials sustainability for Ford.

由此产生的汽车零部件将会轻20%，因此更省油，并在制造过程中为公司节省高达25%的能源。福特负责材料可持续性的高级技术主管黛比?米莱夫斯基(Debbie Mielewski)说，不仅如此，麦基汽车零部件更耐用。

One of the first cars to get the new technology will have headlight sockets that swap the traditional talc — a nonrenewable mineral — with the far more available coffee composite made from 300,000 bean skins. The latter would normally go to waste if not used, explains Mielewski.

首批采用这种新技术的汽车之一将配备头灯插座，将传统的滑石粉(一种不可再生的矿物)换成由30万块豆皮制成的咖啡复合材料。Mielewski解释说，如果不使用，后者通常会被浪费掉。

Ford plans to start producing sustainable headlamp housings for the Lincoln Continental by year’s end.

福特计划在年底前开始为林肯大陆生产可持续的前大灯外壳。

McDonald’s aims to do its part by designating a “significant portion” of its North American coffee chaff for Ford manufacturing. Last year, the Golden Arches served almost a billion McCafe coffees in the US alone.

麦当劳计划将其北美咖啡渣的“相当大一部分”分配给福特汽车制造公司。去年，仅在美国，麦当劳就供应了近10亿杯麦咖啡。

The vehicle manufacturer is also eyeing ways to utilize even more McDonald’s food waste in the future.

这家汽车制造商还在考虑未来利用更多麦当劳食品垃圾的方法。

“They must have a lot of ketchup discards — tomato skins and peels and seeds,” says Mielewski, who is convinced they can make magic with french fry skins.

“他们一定有很多被丢弃的番茄酱——番茄皮、果皮和种子。”米莱夫斯基说。

This isn’t Ford’s first eco-focused symbiosis with a food and beverage producer. In 2016, the automaker teamed up with tequila titan Jose Cuervo to harness agave’s potential as a sustainable bio-plastic.

这并不是福特第一次与食品和饮料生产商建立生态合作关系。2016年，这家汽车制造商与龙舌兰巨人Jose Cuervo合作，利用龙舌兰作为一种可持续生物塑料的潜力。