The Circular Industries Talks are organized every second Wednesday at the Circular Industries Hub. In this edition, Derk-Jan van Heerden, Former CEO of Aircraft End of Life Solutions and co-founder of the foundation Aethos, talks about aircraft material recycling: What hurdles can I help the aviation sector with as a recycling fan?. Curious for more? Take a look at the recording at the bottom of this page.
Material recycling is not part of the design process of aircraft. The choices of what material is used where are focused on safety, a low aircraft weight and noise. But an aircraft will stop flying at a moment. The re-use of components from those aircraft is a very well developed. But what is done with the components that can’t be reused or the airframe left after all components are removed?"
Like everything, aircraft stop being used when they reach a certain age. They are, however, high tech and made with special materials for aviation compared to other products. The number of aircraft is low. The re-use of components to keep other aircraft flying works very well. But what can be done with the materials that are left? Aviation needs to know what is and isn’t possible. Why should we not try to raise the bar and improve the recycling of the remaining materials? That is what Aethos is trying to achieve. Build a bridge between research experts, aircraft managers and engineers and material recycle specialist to develop steps forward for aviation.
Curious about the whole story? Listen to Derk-Jan van Heerden in the Circular Industries talks.
The Circular Industries talks
The goal of the Circular Industries talks is to share knowledge across Leiden, Delft and Erasmus and to complement and deepen the knowledge already available within the Circular Industries Hub. The talks are organized on Wednesday morning from 10:00 to 11:00. The talks are online (Microsoft Teams).