The Aircraft Recycling Solutions Taking Flight
By Kerry Reals for The Guardian
Aug 15, 2017 5:55 PM ET
Campaign:
Boeing & the Environment
Originally published in The Guardian.
Amy Bann, director of sustainable materials at Boeing Commercial Aircraft, says that about 600 passenger planes are retired each year globally - which represents 2.5% of the world’s fleet - and “nearly 90% of the content by weight is reused or recycled”.
Challenges and opportunities remain, however, when it comes to recycling cabin interiors and carbon fibre. Cabin interiors comprise many different materials which can be difficult to separate out, and carbon fibre cannot be melted down and reformed like aluminium.
