Heathrow aims to improve recycling rates at airports as it launches new trial

In a UK first, Heathrow will trial new technology that could turn unrecyclable passenger waste into airport furniture, uniforms and alternative fuels.  

The pilot plant, developed by Heathrow’s Innovation Prize winners Sheffield-based company Catal and UCL Dr Massimiliano Materazzi, has the potential to save up to 5,000 tonnes waste from incineration by turning it into its original oil state for recycling every year.

If successful, it will enable Heathrow to recycle all plastic waste from the airport where regulations permit.

This technology could also help to salvage aircraft cabin waste should government review and adopt a more risk-based approach to regulations for waste from international flights which currently mean tens of thousands of tonnes of recyclable products across UK airports have to be sent for incineration.

Once the waste is refined using this new technology, the resulting oil will be collected and processed in a separate facility which makes use of renewable hydrogen to upgrade the oil into new generation, low-carbon products such as furniture and uniforms.

This autumn, Heathrow will help to kick start the R&D unit by awarding researchers a cash boost of £30,000. By 2025, Catal and UCL plan to roll out commercial units to other airports.

Heathrow Sustainability and Environment Director Matt Gorman, said: “People are rightly concerned about plastic waste. Tens of thousands of tonnes of it are produced by UK air passengers every year which is something we must tackle. That’s why we’re helping to fund this R&D project which could make Heathrow the first UK airport to be able to recycle all plastic waste generated at the airport."

"Coupled with new regulations from Government on processing cabin waste, it would create a step-change in how airports across the UK manage plastic waste – giving passengers the confidence to travel knowing their plastics are sorted.”