Jetrader - January/February 2013 - 11

AFRA’s NEW

Best Management Practice (BMP)

Guide

By Martin Todd, AFRA’s Communications Manager

Closes The Circle And Joins The Dots
The Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association (AFRA) has cemented its role as the leading organization championing environmental responsibility and sustainable practices in the aircraft end-of-life sector, with the launch of its latest Best Management Practice (BMP) Guide, covering aircraft materials recycling. This is the third in a series, and with this new version of the BMP all aspects of aircraft disassembly, parts removal and materials recycling are now covered by AFRA’s BMP Guides. According to AFRA’s Executive Director Martin Fraissignes, the complete set of AFRA BMP Guides shows an industry acting responsibly, taking environmental excellence and sustainability seriously in all aspects of aircraft dismantling and recycling. “Now all the BMPs have been published, industry and the market can be guaranteed that strict, professional and responsible aircraft disassembly will take place along the whole process of teardown. This is why companies increasingly insist on dealing with AFRA accredited members when they issue tenders on aircraft which have reached the end of their service life.” Derk-Jan van Heerden, General Manager of Netherlands based Aircraft End-of- Life Services (AELS) believes that “if you are in aircraft disassembly and you contract out the recycling of aircraft materials, you need to know that your contractor is operating in a competent, ethical and environmentally sound way, and the new BMP Guide gives you that reassurance.” AELS will be seeking dual AFRA accreditation in the coming months. Tim Zemanovic, CEO of Aircraft Demolition — the ﬁrst company to receive dual AFRA accreditation in October 2012 — expects the AFRA accreditation to increase business opportunities for his ﬁrm. “We are extremely proud to be the ﬁrst company to achieve dual AFRA accreditation. Our larger customers, who want to build a longterm relationship with us, increasingly insist on accreditation.” They want to be sure that their partners are doing things the right way. The accreditations provide evidence that our standards are high, we have documented procedures and that we are committed to environmental excellence. “Owners, leasers and MRO shops are increasing looking for evidence of expertise. All our people come from the aircraft engineers’/mechanic side of things; Aircraft Demolition knows the aviation sector and learned materials recycling. While some, coming from the scrap sector, do not have the expertise. You have to wonder: can they learn the details of the aircraft industry? Do they understand what materials are dangerous, what materials are hazardous and how they need to be handled safely? Our AFRA accreditations conﬁrm we have the processes, the practices and documentation to deliver the quality services they demand.” AELS’ van Heerden feels it is increasingly important that customers are aware of the whole of your value proposition in terms of environmental commitment and sustainable practices. “The full set of AFRA BMP Guides guarantees a high level of quality, knowledge, safety and environmental best practice, which is Jetrader 11

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Jetrader - January/February 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jetrader - January/February 2013
