China - October 31, 2024 China's first aircraft recycling facility fosters sustainable future for aviation (Voice_over) The aircraft recycling business is soaring in southwest China’s Chengdu where the country’s first airplane recycling facility is humming with activity. Since opening earlier this year, engineers at the Airbus Lifecycle Services Centre have been busy dismantling a retired Airbus A330-200, removing parts that will be reused in the aviation sector. (Sound_bite) Yang Shudong, Business Development Director, ALSC : "Our goal for the first aircraft is to achieve a recycling rate of around 90 percent. Wide-body aircraft pose a greater challenge for recycling compared to narrow-body aircraft due to many composite materials in their fuselage, which are hard to be recycled and reused." (Voice_over) To improve the recycling rate, the center is working with new partners who specialize in the decomposition of carbon fiber composite material. (Sound_bite) Wang Yongzhi, director, Hengrui Corporation: "Composite materials have always been a problem that has remained unresolved globally. Because of our unique technology, we can break down carbon fiber composite materials, reclaim the carbon fiber, and then repurpose it. It is estimated that such a recovery rate may reach over 90 percent or even more than 95 percent." (Voice_over) Airbus predicts that over the next two decades, there will be a 15 percent increase in the number of aircraft in China that are 12 years or older. [Restriction: No access Chinese mainland]