Coffee chaff, the husk of the bean that comes off during roasting, usually gets turned into garden mulch or charcoal — or thrown away.

But McDonald's and Ford are taking a different approach.

When heated and mixed with plastic and other additives, coffee chaff can be formed into pellets and then various other shapes.

Ford is planning to use a chaff composite for interior car components and under the hood. As a result, the car parts will be 20% lighter — better for fuel efficiency — and provide the company with up to 25% energy savings during the molding of the parts.

The first auto component to be produced using the chaff will be headlamp housings. With help from Competitive Green Technologies, which processes the coffee chaff for Ford, and the automaker's supplier Varroc Lighting Systems, the headlamp housings will go into production by the end of the year for the Lincoln Continental.