Report calls for co-processing of wind turbine blades to be scaled up

The cement sector's cooperation is expected to be required to ease the challenge of recycling decommissioned wind turbines, according to a new report from WindEurope, the European Chemical Industry Council and the European Composites Industry Association.

While 85-90 per cent of wind turbines can be recycled, the blades are a relatively small volume of the total composite waste and are a 'specifically challenging' waste stream, says the report. Although the cement sector enables disposal of the turbines via co-processing, eliminating the need for landfill, composite recycling solutions are not currently widely available.

WindEurope estimates that 40,000-60,000t of blade materials will need to be processed by 2023 in Europe where legislation, led by Germany, Austria, Finland and The Netherlands is being tightened on landfill restrictions.

The report calls for 'treatment routes', such as co-processing of turbine blades in the cement sector to be adopted more widely to build a sustainable circular economy.