Plant based lifestyle | Honda produce bodywork from non-edible corn in a bid to cut emissions

Honda aren’t just betting on electric bikes to hit their ambitious 2050 carbon-neutrality target – they’re digging deeper and swapping out traditional bodywork for eco-friendly alternatives made from plants.

That’s not to say battery propelled machines aren’t getting their fair share of the brand’s attention, especially with Honda bosses in Japan recently letting slip that their latest EV Fun and EV Urban concepts could be released in Europe soon.

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But going electric is just one piece of the puzzle for the brand, who have now adopted a ‘Triple Action to Zero’ approach, which also aims to power production from renewable means, as well as source all materials used from recycled or renewable sources.

Back in 2023, Honda America Vice President, Jay Joseph said: “The concept is simple: We will no longer have to dig holes in the ground for finite materials and energy sources or bury spent materials in a hole in the ground at the end of their usable life.

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“That doesn’t change the values that go into our products – clean, safe, and fun vehicles that are high quality and of good value.

“Even after a vehicle is purchased, by Honda and our dealers maintaining a relationship with successive customers and the vehicle, we aim to reclaim the product at end of life.

“This will enable us to recycle or reuse every bit of the materials from our vehicles, reprocess them back to raw materials and reuse those materials in the creation of new products.”

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Accordingly, Honda have developed a three-stage material resourcing game plan, where plant based and recycled plastics are implemented for their motorcycle bodywork production, rather than relying on virgin petroleum products as has been the case traditionally.

The firm’s recycling efforts are already well underway. Damaged and scrap parts from dealerships and production lines are crushed, pelletised, and repurposed into everything from seat bases to luggage boxes.

The star of the show, though, is Durabio – a bio-based polycarbonate resin made by the Mitsubishi Chemical Group.

Derived from inedible plant matter, it offers the same toughness and weather resistance as traditional plastics, without the environmental nastiness.

Not only that, but its optical clarity and scratch resistance exceed traditional polycarbonates, making Durabio an obvious choice for windscreens and headlight lenses.

It can also be used to create solid colour panels, thanks largely to its high transparency, meaning that bodywork can be produced to a high standard of finish without the need for a trip to the paint shop – and despite being made out of corn, it won’t degrade into compost either.

This isn’t pie-in-the-sky tech either. Durabio and recycled plastics already appear on Honda adventure bikes like the Africa Twin and NC750X, plus scooters like the Forza 750 and X-ADV. For the latter two, Honda has integrated 31 and 25 ‘green’ parts, respectively.