With Earth Day and the heavy travel season fast approaching, I wanted to take a look at how recycled plastics relate to both.

Folks will be setting out on California roadways soon, complete with cars full of snacks and plenty of water to make the trip enjoyable.  And while road trips with a 22 month old and a 3 year old aren’t exactly on my top ten list of favored vacation ideas, I remember some fun times going on car trips with my family as a child so my husband and I will  be hitting the road at least once this summer to travel along the California Coast and make our own family memories.  We won’t be buying a new car for our excursions, but it got me thinking about how plastics—specifically recycled plastics—have been embraced by the auto industry.

Plastics innovations have long appeared under the hood, but recycled plastics are now being used in vehicle interiors.  Ford Motor Co. will be using REPREVE® brand seat fabrics in their 2012 Ford Focus Electric.  The fabric is made from a blend of recycled plastic bottles and post-consumer waste.  Each Ford Focus Electric will use seat fabric made of roughly 22 recycled plastic bottles in each vehicle.  Ford is literally helping drive an increase in recycled PET plastic demand.

Thankfully, each of us can have a part in fostering innovations like REPREVE® as we take the initiative to recycle plastics, whether at home or on the go.  Because we know Californians want to recycle, ACC has placed recycling bins in close to 700 locations statewide.   As for me, I’m thankful I’ll have 700 opportunities to recycle as we motor down the coast this summer so I can model the behavior I want my two little boys to emulate.  Soon enough, they’ll be grown up and making vacation memories of their own.  My hope is that we all begin to treat every day as Earth Day by putting recycling where it goes—in the recycling bin—which will allow them to share the experience of the beautiful California Coast with their own children.  Someday.