Toyota Eco-Plastic.. Toyota making car parts from vegetables

[prius04]

I had read about how Toyota had made some car parts from organic material and made a kind of "eco-plastic", but I never realized it was this extensive. They call this stuff Raum.

Thought PRII owners would like to read about it..


http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/environment/rec...gn/recycle.html


This is from the web site....
__________________________________________________ __
Significant Reduction in Substances of Environmental Concern
With the new Raum, Toyota also worked on reducing substances of environmental concern, such as lead.
1. Lead: Toyota eliminated lead from wire harness shields and fuel tanks, and has achieved ahead of schedule the Japanese automobile industry's voluntary goal of reducing lead usage to 1/10 or less of the 1996 level from 2006 (reduction to 1/4 of the previous model or 123g/unit).
2. Mercury: Toyota has achieved ahead of schedule the voluntary goals set out by the Japanese automobile industry prohibiting usage of mercury in parts other than LCD displays of navigation systems, etc. from 2004.
3. Cadmium: Toyota has abolished the use of cadmium in fog lights and turn signal lamp bulbs.
4. Hexavalent chromium: Toyota began using alternative materials in some nuts and bolts, etc.
__________________________________________________ __

[DanMan32]

From the context of the article, Raum is the name of a car.

... With the New Raum
1. eliminated lead.
2. Eliminated Mercury
3. Eliminated Cadmium
4. removed Chromium in nuts and bolts.

If Raum were a plastic, why would it have nuts and bolts?

The Prius also has many of the characteristics of the Raum, as per the New Car Features.

[hdrygas]

If you want to see a picture of the Raum go here:
http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/environment/rec.../recycle02.html