{"id":36761,"date":"2026-09-13T18:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T22:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=36761"},"modified":"2026-09-13T12:44:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T16:44:33","slug":"wind-turbine-blades-are-built-to-survive-storms-for-decades-but-sweden-is-testing-how-to-take-them-apart-afterward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wind-turbine-blades-are-built-to-survive-storms-for-decades-but-sweden-is-testing-how-to-take-them-apart-afterward\/36761\/","title":{"rendered":"Wind turbine blades are built to survive storms for decades, but Sweden is testing how to take them apart afterward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new project in Sweden led by Stena Recycling and Vestas, achieved using chemicals to disassemble the gigantic blades of old wind turbines and separate their materials (like glass fibre, plastic and carbon). Although a big part of the eolic of the wind turbine of a wind farm is<\/a> easily recycled, its blades are really difficult because they are enormous and their components are stuck like a solid block. What this type of recycling is doing is basically avoiding them ending up buried in the trash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So yes, Stena Recycling and Vestas could prove with success that there is a process to separate the materials from the blades. The next step may be applying it on a bigger scale\u2026 Well, science is going on the right path!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why wind turbine blades are so difficult to recycle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first big problem is the size. Some blades, like the ones of the GE Vernova\u2019s Haliade-X<\/a> model, for you to have an idea, measure 107 meters. This means that a single blade is like an American football field, so for sure it cannot be folded to transport inside a truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The second problem is the material they are made of. Most of a turbine (85% to 90%<\/a>) is made of metals that are easy to recycle, like iron, steel or aluminium, but the blades have fiberglass and plastics stuck with a very strong \u201cglue\u201d (resin).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A full-size wind turbine blade dwarfs workers standing beside it, illustrating why transporting and processing retired blades is a major recycling challenge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The thing here is that the resin is what keeps the blades from breaking during storms. So maybe it can be a nightmare to recycle them, but at least when they are needed, they are safe enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America\u2019s first major retirement wave is arriving<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The United States Wind Turbine Database<\/a> registered more than 77,000 turbines working in 2026 and more than 12,000 that were decommissioned. Normally, a wind turbine can work between 25 and 30 years, but sometimes they change the blades earlier to put in more modern and larger machines<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read More: A hidden crust of insects can build up on wind-turbine blades during calm weather, then cut power production by up to 25% when stronger winds arrive, even though the machinery itself may be working perfectly<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Studies from the U.S Department of Energy calculate that by 2050, there could be between 200,000 to 370,000 tons of old blades collected every year only in the USA. For sure, it is not the most dangerous waste in the world, but it occupies a gigantic space. Also, cutting, moving, and storing the pieces of that size costs a lot of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heat and chemistry are unlocking the trapped materials<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To solve this situation there are two main possible paths. The first one (that comes from Tennessee-based Carbon Rivers<\/a>) consists of heating the waste at high temperatures without oxygen. This way, they can separate the resin and rescue the fibreglass almost clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second path is the Swedish project. Stena Recycling and Vestas say that their method separates the plastic, the fiberglass and the aluminum from the blades. They assure that the tests went well and that the method works outside the laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read More: The Pentagon has put 155 wind projects on hold, and the reason is not the turbines but what military radars may fail to see<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Also, there are other simple ideas: shredding the blades for cement production<\/a>, or turning them into benches for the parks, bridges or shelters for bikes. This avoids the materials being thrown into the trash, but the ideal is to recover the original materials to make new things with a higher value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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