DSM Engineering Materials’ recycled ocean plastic earns Innovation Award

DSM Engineering Materials has announced that the Ford Motor Company, HellermannTyton, and DSM earned an Innovation Award from the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) for the use of Akulon RePurposed recycled ocean plastic in the Ford Bronco Sport.

This application was also recognised by Ford as the first of many potential uses for recycled ocean plastics in a major vehicle platform.

Ford uses wiring harness clips made of ocean-harvested plastic ‘ghost gear’ in Bronco Sport models. Invisible to vehicle occupants, the wiring harness clips fasten to the sides of the Bronco Sport second-row seats and guide wires that power various features in the vehicle’s cargo area. Ford testing shows that the Akulon RePurposed material, despite having spent time in salt water and sunlight, is as strong and durable as petroleum-based clips.

The Akulon RePurposed material is made using nylon fishing nets collected from the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. The nets are thoroughly cleaned and processed using a proprietary process to create a strong PA 6 engineering material with performance comparable to new petroleum-based plastics.

Jim Buczkowski, VP Research and Henry Ford technical fellow, said: “This is another example of Ford leading the charge on sustainability. It is a strong example of circular economy, and while these clips are small, they are an important first step in our explorations to use recycled ocean plastics for additional parts in the future.”

Lydia Swan, Commercial Director – Americas, DSM Engineering Materials, added: “Solving the global challenge of ocean plastics will require our entire industry to step up and find innovative solutions to grow the circular economy. We are very proud of the joint efforts of our team, Ford, and HellermanTyton to make this innovative use of recycled ocean plastics possible.”

As more customers seek to partner with DSM to address the challenge of reducing ocean plastic waste, numerous additional applications are currently under development.