These are uncharted waters for McDonald’s. That’s not to say there’s a brand anywhere, in America or globally, that would know how to bring awareness to an announcement of this nature. It sounds more like an episode of “Mythbusters”—turning millions of pounds of a waste product into car parts.

“I think sometimes people talk about educating people on sustainability,” says Ian Olson, the senior director of global sustainability at McDonald’s. “But I think of it more as, especially super brands like Ford and McDonald’s, providing aha moments. Like, oh, that’s really cool. I didn’t even think that could be a possibility, and kind of opening their awareness so they can now go on their own sustainability journey to figure out what’s important to them.”

In other terms, McDonald’s hopes to shed light on an issue most people don’t even know exists. And hopefully trigger a movement.

In early December, McDonald’s announced it’s giving Ford—a company Olson used to work for—coffee chaff to be upcycled for select vehicle parts. Namely, to create headlamp housing that’s 20 percent lighter and requires up to 25 percent less energy during the molding process.

Understandably, the majority of Americans likely aren’t familiar with the term “coffee chaff.” It’s the dried skin of the bean that naturally comes off during roasting. This often turns into garden mulch or charcoal. It’s common to see farmers just light it on fire. And, as you could imagine, there’s millions of pounds of it per year (1.2 million per week in just North America). McDonald’s serves roughly a billion cups of coffee annually—500 million cups a day just in the U.S.

Olson, who has been at McDonald’s for eight years, says a former colleague from Ford called him and said they were looking at ways to turn coffee chaff into something useful. But also, Ford recognized the awareness gap and how collaborative partnerships could educate the greater public. McDonald’s and its 14,000 domestic restaurants was a solid place to start.

Olson says the product came out better than expected. “I think, if anything, we probably ran into an issue of alright, how do we get more people involved?” he says. “How do we get other suppliers involved?”

“Our hope is it’s the beginning," Olson adds. “And we’ll look for different opportunities with Ford and others to figure out how we can turn what would conventionally be seen as waste streams into valuable supply chain materials.”