AAR Corp. has rolled out a variety of sustainability initiatives across its facilities in North America and Europe aimed at reducing waste, improving energy efficiency and leveraging technology to improve standards.
In its recently released 2024 Sustainability Report, AAR detailed some of the improvements it made this year or that it is in the process of rolling out.
The company expanded its recycling program in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada to include additional industrial materials, such as oil filters and polymer reinforced carbon tubing. AAR also distributed reusable coffee cups to employees in Amsterdam and discontinued the use of disposable ones. According to AAR, its site-wide recycling program in Grand Prairie, Texas recycled 10 tons of scrap metal this year, and it has recycled 150 tons of cardboard, paper and plastics since the program began in 2021.
AAR has been introducing more sustainable systems and energy across its various locations. In Illinois, the company has upgraded make-up air units to supply recaptured airflow to heat and circulate air at its Rockford facility, and it has upgraded to more energy-efficient lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in Wood Dale. AAR installed more electric car charging stations in Trois-Rivieres and implemented a new system to improve wastewater disposal. It is in the process of replacing its wastewater treatment system in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
AAR also installed a solar panel field in Amsterdam to reduce its electrical grid power usage. According to a representative for AAR, the company is considering expanding solar energy generation to other facilities, but “each project must be evaluated individually, taking into account local infrastructure, climate conditions and the energy requirements of each facility.”
On the digital side, AAR is transitioning multiple lines of maintenance to paperless operations in Rockford and Miami using its proprietary Digital MRO tool, which is part of its Concourse platform. It is also using proprietary quality and safety management software called APRISe to report and track environmental safety and compliance matters.
According to a representative for AAR, APRISe currently captures three key sets of environmental data: internal audits from events such as monthly hangar inspections and weekly hazardous waste storage checklists to help it proactively address compliance risks and correct conditions that could cause environmental issues; environmental events, including AAR’s root cause analyses and corrective actions; and potential environmental issues reported by employees through the company’s safety management system.
AAR says it is taking steps to optimize the use of data within APRISe, such as leveraging aggregated audit and event data to reveal trends that inform its long-term strategies for waste reduction, energy efficiency and process improvements.
Beyond these improvements, AAR digitalized its tracking and reporting systems for hazardous air pollutants and volatile organic compounds in Oklahoma City. It also conducted a water assessment using the World Resource Institute Aqueduct tool to better understand water risk at its global sites.
Through its supply chain, AAR uses a trade compliance screening tool to evaluate new suppliers on various compliance risk categories, such as human rights, sanctions and corruption. In July, AAR expanded its Supplier Code of Conduct to suppliers’ subcontractors and independent contractors and added a “right to inspect” its suppliers’ facilities, with or without third-party assistance, to ensure compliance.
AAR also updated the Supplier Code of Conduct “to ensure all suppliers comply with all relevant environmental regulations and seek to ensure the efficiency of their business operations in terms of consumption of natural resources including, but not limited to, water, waste and energy,” according to a representative.
Related Content
