Aircraft recycling

Aircraft recycling is the process of scrapping and disassembling retired aircraft, and re-purposing their parts as spare parts or scrap. Airplanes are made of around 800 to 1000 parts that can be recycled, with the majority of them made from metal alloys and composite materials. The two most common metal alloys are aluminum and titanium and the main composite material is carbon fiber.

Airplanes are disassembled at aircraft-recycling centers where non-metal components with no recycle value are discarded, major components are dismantled and metal alloy components are sorted based on their composition. The metal alloys are then remelted together to form a single homogenous alloy from scraps. It is estimated that roughly 400-450 airplanes are disassembled and recycled annually which drives the $2 billion aircraft parts market.

The main challenge in aircraft recycling is ensuring that the amount of metal impurities within recycled aircraft material is low so that they can be reused in other airplanes. Some major limitations in aircraft recycling include cost, impurities in alloys, hazardous materials, and the quality of recycled components. Parts that cannot be directly recycled can be reused or upcycled into artwork, clothing, and furniture.

In the twentieth century, most aircraft were not recycled; old planes were abandoned in landfills. In the early 2000s, Airbus and Boeing, two of the largest airplane manufacturing companies developed systematic recycling processes to deal with their retired planes and parts as an alternative to moving them to landfills.

In 2005, Airbus launched the project "Process for Advanced Management of End-of-Life of Aircraft" known as PAMELA, which demonstrated that 85% of an aircraft's weight can be recycled or reused. Airbus partnered with the waste management company, Suez-Sita and set-up a recycling facility at the Tarbes Airport. The project was tested on the Airbus A300 and was successfully completed when 61 tonnes of the original plane weight were recycled 32 months later in 2007. The project also created a standard for how to safely and responsibly deal with end-of-life airplanes that consisted of a three-step approach: decommissioning, disassembly and dismantling.

In 2006, Boeing founded the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association, known as AFRA, to set up industry-wide guidelines for the dismantling and recycling of airplanes. The company joined forces with 10 others including Rolls-Royce, Europe Aviation, and Air Salvage International to create an industry code of conduct and collection of best practices. Together they formed a network of AFRA authorized recycling centers across the globe to deal with end-of-life planes in an environmentally friendly manner. AFRA has since grown, and as of 2022 consisted of 80 members which include stakeholders in all aspects of the aircraft recycling process from manufacturers to materials recyclers.

In 2013, Southwest Airlines created a recycling and community initiative, "Repurpose with Purpose," to upcycle the leather seat covers from their planes and provide economic opportunities for various vulnerable groups. The airline partnered with non-profit organizations that work with veterans, the disabled and victims of trafficking to turn the used leather into products such as soccer balls, shoes and jewelry. Since starting the program, over 900,000 pounds of leather have been recycled.

It is estimated that by 2040, about 44% of planes currently in the global fleet will retire from service; this will include over 13,000 commercial, military and private aircraft. In addition to an increase in recycled parts available from recent recycling efforts, blockchain technology has led to new ways in which recycled parts can be bought and sold. In 2019, Honeywell Aerospace introduced an online marketplace for aerospace parts called GoDirect Trade that uses blockchain to authenticate and trace the history of parts. The market for aircraft parts was valued at $5.4 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow to $7.7 billion by 2026.