Photos: Airplane recycling taking off

Most of the fuselage and wings from jets such as this Boeing 727 are made of aluminum, which can be sold for scrap and used later in automotive parts including wheels and transmissions.

However, currently more aluminum is recovered from obsolete automobiles than from aircraft. The complex composition of aerospace aluminum alloys can be difficult to recover and reuse.

Recycling all the aluminum cans bought in one day by Californians could build 17 Boeing 727s, according to the Can Manufacturers Institute.