Ever heard of the circular economy? It's a hot topic right now, as the excess and waste humans inflict on the planet becomes more critical to solve every day. The theory behind it is that everything can be put to good use, if only we know what to do with it.
That's where our recycling programme Revert comes in.
Revert helps us make the most of the high-value metals that come out as waste products when we manufacture and reduces our need for additional raw materials.
Ben Godfrey, Vice President Procurement in raw materials, explains: "When we manufacture our engines, we start with big lumps of metal, heat them up, shape them and then machine most of it off. If we didn't think about what to do with that waste, about 90 per cent of that would go in the bin or be sold as scrap at the lowest possible price.
"But these are expensive elements and alloys that are hard to get out of the ground: rhenium, nickel, titanium, platinum, cobalt and tantalum. So by making the most of all the machined-off pieces, down to the dust, we can make sure it's not mined unnecessarily, heated up twice or knocked into shape again saving energy, as well as the cost of buying it twice."