NARITA, Chiba -- Major carrier All Nippon Airways Co. (ANA)'s Narita Airport ground services firm has created tags and keychains made from the wooden chocks used to secure aircraft tires.

Despite being made from durable wood, these chocks are typically discarded after about a year due to wear and tear. The initiative was conceived by young staff members seeking to recycle these "unsung heroes" of safety.

The chocks are about 14 centimeters in height, 16 cm wide and 60 cm long and weigh about 6.8 kilograms. Over a year, they lose over 1 kg in weight, with around 150 chocks from Narita Airport alone burned as waste. Planning department staffer Keisuke Nakamura, 36, proposed repurposing them as a decarbonization initiative. Starting in June 2023, Nakamura and five colleagues explored potential designs with a former colleague's woodworking company while preparing internal proposals.

The tags, designed to resemble airline tickets, measure 6.9 cm by 3.4 cm with a thickness of 0.6 cm. The keychains, depicting a runway, are 7.1 cm by 1.5 cm and 0.6 cm thick. A total of 600 items were produced for distribution in ANA group companies' community and recruitment activities.

"Come rain or wind, the chocks support aircraft in all weather conditions. I wanted them to be a good luck charm," said Joji Miyamoto, 43, from the general affairs department's airport policy promotion section. Nakamura added, "These chocks have supported air travel, so I want to come up with more items that people will keep for a long time like amulets."

(Japanese original by Tsukimi Goda, Narita Bureau)