Do you remember the oil spill disaster of BP at the Gulf of Mexico? There’s really no way to positively spin the disaster that took place in the Gulf of Mexico when BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded and leaked untold millions of gallons of oil into the ocean. Uncountable life forms died due to the incident, besides making the gulf a horrendous place. However, it seems that American auto manufacturer General Motors has figured out a way to “creatively recycle” a projected 100 miles of oil-soaked plastic boom material.

Specifically, GM will mould radiator air deflectors from plastic that’s made up of 25 percent recycled boom material and 25 percent recycled tires, with the remaining 50 percent “a mixture of post-consumer recycled plastics and other polymers.” This is indeed a great idea, as the Volt is a ‘hybrid’ car which initially is meant to help ‘save’ Earth, so using materials from the oil spill disaster will further express the cause of such electric vehicles.

GM has apparently collected enough of the crude oil material to fulfil the needs for these plastic parts for the Volt’s entire first year of production, and it’s likely that these recycling efforts will continue to other models in the automaker’s portfolio, hopefully.