Across our businesses, we’ve been working in different ways to focus on waste reduction. This includes optimising packaging in our Civil Aerospace business. From minimising fresh air shipments to removing plastic materials such as foam inserts and developing a returnable packaging programme, the solutions put in place so far have already driven a CO2e reduction of 11,400 tonnes.
In Bristol, our Defence team has been trialling a programme to turn plastic waste into useful 3D printed items like miniature aircraft models. This not only reduces the volume of plastic packaging waste but also reduces the emissions associated with transporting goods.
Elsewhere, our Power Systems business is replacing the plastic film packaging of the roughly 100 engines they receive for maintenance and repair every year with reusable containers. Likewise, they’ve switched to a new packaging material for metal components which prevents the formation of rust and is based on natural components, replacing the previous blue plastic film and allowing it to be recycled.
Across all of our facilities, single use plastics represent a huge opportunity to improve our environmental impact. Our Derby facility has been leading the way by finding reusable or recyclable alternatives for everything from the soap bottles in the bathrooms to the drinking water on site and even the dry cleaning packaging.