A recycling story inspired by the big screen

Japan – Japanese entrepreneur Michihiko Iwamoto has acquired a DeLorean ‘time machine’ – exactly as seen in the 1980s blockbuster film ‘Back to the Future’. And although this unique vehicle does feature a ‘flux capacitor’, it doesn’t run on plutonium but rather on cotton fibres from recycled clothing.

Iwamoto took the first ride in his bio-car on the auspicious date of October 21 2015 – when Doc and Marty start their time travel adventure in the film series. He won’t disclose the purchase price but hints that shipping it all the way from the USA cost him over US$ 40 000. ‘I totally believed that, in the future, there would be a car that runs on garbage,’ he tells CNN Japan. ‘But years went by, and that didn’t happen. So I thought I’d develop it myself.’

Turning this ambitious idea into reality took him five years and was the sole inspiration for launching his firm Japan Environment Planning back in 2007. It eventually succeeded in creating bio-ethanol from discarded textiles via a fermentation process. ‘I wish to promote a recycling-orientated society,’ Iwamoto says.

Because his vehicle is not allowed on the road, he is taking it to shopping malls and other urban hotspots all over the country as part of his promotion work. He is also amassing donated clothes to create more biofuel.