JMV Aviation - Recycling - recycling

The environmental challenge of recycling

The environmental challenge consists first and foremost of preventing the accumulation of wrecks. The work of AFRA (Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association) has shown that the professionalisation of reusing planes’ spare parts is fundamental for their recycling. The more profitable this process proves, the less often planes will be abandoned.

The profitability of recycling must be ensured and strict safety norms respected, both with regard to deconstruction of planes and clearing their pollution. These processes must be managed within a regulated framework of aeronautical maintenance, approval PART. All de-pollution and subsequent deconstruction processes must only be carried out in certified workshops, and they alone have access to the manufacturers’ files with a view to guaranteeing maximum safety. Recycling sites (for cutting up, crushing, sorting) must have ISO 14001 certification as a safety guarantee.

Certification and traceability of spare parts (tests in workshops, revisions for equipment, aeronautical reuse) also necessitate strict regulation. To guarantee safe use of spare parts, approved procedures have been drawn up with civil aviation authorities and validated approval PART. Recycling of raw materials must also be studied as well as spare parts. The more purified aluminium is, the higher is its price (aluminium on a plane is worth around EUR 100 per tonne as opposed to EUR 2000 per tonne of pure aluminium). An industrialised process will make this sector more profitable. The necessity to trace products and dangerous materials is also primordial.

On certified sites, 80% of the total aircraft is recycled; the remaining 20% that cannot be recycled satisfactorily consists mainly of composite materials. Planes today already contain composite materials; the challenge of how to recycle these new materials is therefore of major importance for the future.

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