PRODUCTS & S ER V ICES
SUSTAINABLE CABIN PLASTICS
Sekisui Kydex is enhancing its sustainability through
measures including partnerships with Ultra-Poly and AIRA
aircraftinteriorsinternational.com
MARCH 2020 211
ustainability isn’t a new journey
for Sekisui Kydex. Making the
planet better for future
S
generations has been a core commitment
of the company for over 20 years, through
initiatives such as zero emissions, wasteto
energy, and mixed recycling. Now
Sekisui Kydex is pursuing its next
sustainability venture: ensuring that
the lifecycle of Kydex thermoplastics
is a sustainable one.
From the beginning, Sekisui Kydex
used an in-house granulator to chip,
regrind and reuse scrap and edge trim
material. The company then wanted
to expand its recycling operations
to accommodate a thermoplastic trim
scrap buyback programme, providing
customers with a way to recycle rather
than landfill their materials.
At around the same time of this
planned expansion, plastics recycler
Ultra-Poly was searching for new
partners. While visiting the area, Ultra-
Poly noticed gaylords of Kydex
thermoplastic material waiting to be
recycled, and approached Sekisui Kydex.
The two companies partnered to scale-up
their recycling programmes, which
included Ultra-Poly moving into the
south campus at Sekisui Kydex’s
headquarters in Pennsylvania. This
partnership has since led to the recycling
over 15 million lbs (6.8 million kg) of
PVC scrap material annually.
Sekisui Kydex doesn’t want its
sustainability journey to end there.
The next step is to implement recycling
streams for end-use materials by
working with a leader in this industry:
Tony Seville, owner of the Aircraft Interior
Recycling Association (AIRA). AIRA strives
to recycle 100% of aircraft interior parts,
including plastics, textiles and
technology. This is no small feat in an
industry that has been slow to embrace
convince others to part with stacks upon
stacks of unused, dusty parts.
“People wanted us to pay them for the
seats and interiors, which doesn’t work,
so we had to work to make this a viable
solution for our customers, and for us.
One of our customers saved more than
US$10,000 by allowing us to recycle old
parts instead of sending them to landfill,”
Seville says.
AIRA hopes to reach a larger audience
and help companies reduce their carbon
footprint. But, as Seville says, “We can’t
do it alone. We need people to be open
to the possibilities of recycling. Through
our partnership with Sekisui Kydex
and aircraft interiors and seating
manufacturers, we can achieve a
more sustainable future together.”
Sekisui Kydex continues in its
commitment to sustainability, backed
by parent company Sekisui Chemical Co.,
which is ranked 12th on this year’s Global
100 Most Sustainable Corporations in
the World list.
Visit Sekisui
Kydex at Aircraft
Interiors Expo,
stand 5D40
sustainability due to costs and limited
resources.
Seville got his start after seeing many
aircraft interior seats and parts sitting
unused in warehouse stacks. Wondering
if there was an alternative to the parts
sitting in a warehouse for eternity or
being taken out in an expensive landfill
haul, he looked into recycling.
“I started this venture six years ago
because I didn’t know the specifics of
recycling aircraft interiors. Having worked
in the aviation industry for years, I knew
we could be doing more,” says Seville.
“That’s why AIRA took it on. We tested
parts to see first if they could be recycled,
and then how it could be done. We
wanted to be confident when we said
everything could be recycled,” he explains
of the process.
AIRA now helps companies reduce
their carbon footprint, from material
selection, to material reuse and recycling.
All aircraft cabin interior parts can be
recycled, from seats to panels and IFE,
with AIRA ensuring no parts go to landfill.
They can be reused as spare parts or
made into non-aviation solution parts
such as warehouse trays or runoff water
piping. AIRA’s next challenge was to
A LOOK INSIDE ULTRA-POLY’S WAREHOUSE AT SEKISUI KYDEX’S SOUTH
CAMPUS. HERE OVER 15 MILLION POUNDS OF PVC ARE RECYCLED ANNUALLY.
THE TRIM SCRAP IS GROUND INTO REGRIND AND REUSED IN OTHER MATERIAL
APPLICATIONS, GIVING THE MATERIAL A SECOND LIFE
FREE READER ENQUIRY SERVICE
To request more details from Sekisui Kydex,
visit www.magupdate.co.uk/paii
/aircraftinteriorsinternational.com
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