Transportation

The average new car contains more than a thousand plastic parts. But all that plastic makes up just 17 percent of a car's total weight. If that plastic were metal then in the U.S. alone, it would take an additional 88 million barrels of oil per year to haul the extra weight. But that plastic is not without impact on the environment, and a number of post-petroleum designers are exploring alternatives. From Ford Motor Company's plans for a “compostable car” to the cardboard bike developed by Israeli designer Izhar Gafni, innovations are emerging that address the difficulty of recycling plastic auto parts as well as their non-renewable resource consumption and carbon emissions. ¹