This press release, rewritten as a news article, seems like it comes from a parallel universe in which carriers are not trying to drive costs to zero.
I especially liked the comment from the VP that part of their plans for making the plane environmentally sound starts with recyclable components. As if recycling the plane is a major design consideration.
As a European company, I believe recycling has to be a major part of their development efforts.
They could easily be caught up in EU laws and regulations regarding recycling. Though the link below pertains to electronics, I believe there are similar laws for automobiles, so they could just be thinking ahead.
Further to that, recycling is good practice in something as resource intensive as an airplane. Recycling bits from lots of different phones is, I suspect, much more challenging than recycling large chunks from planes.
I especially liked the comment from the VP that part of their plans for making the plane environmentally sound starts with recyclable components. As if recycling the plane is a major design consideration.