An alternative to the rusty boneyard: Is it possible to recycle the behemoths of transport? [View all]

[Sherman A1]

How do you recycle planes, trains and space shuttles? We live in a throwaway society: we want new cars, new computers, new clothes. Like us, airlines and shipping companies want huge new pieces of kit. Often their purchases are justified on environmental grounds – new ships and planes are more energy efficient.

Boeing boasts that its Dreamliner "uses 20 per cent less fuel than today's similarly sized airplanes". But once you buy a new plane, train or ship, you need to get rid of the old one. The murky world of scrap, salvage and recycling is where many monster-sized machines end up when their working days are over.

Sometimes it's an ignominious end – off to rot in the searing desert sun or to be cannibalised by ill-equipped workers on a Bangladeshi beach.

This hidden domain of waste and want is deliberately kept out of sight. It's troubling.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/an-alternative-to-the-rusty-boneyard-is-it-possible-to-recycle-the-behemoths-of-transport-8454623.html