New Ways to Feel Green

Equally important are general questions of recyclability. What are car makers doing to put recycled materials back into their new production vehicles.

GREENER THAN YOU THINK

In Europe, manufacturers are already obliged to recycle a large proportion of their vehicle. According to EU law, carmakers will only be allowed to consign 5% of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) to landfill by 2015.

Motor manufacturers are already in the process of making their cars more recyclable. Several companies already talk up their cars being 85% recyclable, and some of you are driving these vehicles now. Ford claims it is able to recycle a car's seats, doors, batteries and tyres, ensuring as little as possible ends up rotting in landfill.

WHAT GOES IN

And if you're thinking of buying a new Ford you can also depend on your car using leftover plastics derived from the likes of bottles and old yarn. For seat cushions and seat-backs, soy and bio-based materials will be in use.

Other technical breakthroughs include moulding repurposed nylon carpeting into cylinder head covers, and even using wheat straw to replace fibreglass in car construction.

Ford aren't the only manufacturer to have embraced recycling principles however. Companies as diverse as PSA Peugeot Citroen, Volvo and prestige carmaker Bentley all claim that their cars are 85% recyclable.

THE 100% RECYCLING DREAM

The ideal of 100% recyclability however may be unrealistic, because the energy costs involved in achieving 100% recyclability outweigh the environmental benefits.

As well as all this being good PR there is a very real financial reason for manufacturers moving towards recycling values. Ford again believes it saved $4.5 million in 2009 thanks to having used recycled materials in their new cars.

Recycling then benefits everybody, from manufacturer to consumer.