EuReComp is an EU funded collaborative research project with a strong focus on circularity, set out to provide sustainable methods towards recycling and reuse of composite materials, coming from components used in various industries, such as aeronautics and wind energy.
The cumulating composite wastes are more prominent than the needed new composites. The aircraft and wind energy sectors contribute to a major share of this. Across all industries about 60% of waste fibre reinforced composites is landfilled, causing severe societal and environmental issues. EU’s Circular Economy plan seeks to reduce the landfill down to 10% by increasing the rate of recycling. As landfilling is highly discouraged in wind and transport sectors, relevant stakeholders seek to replace it with more advanced technologies and end-of-life options, which promote the recycling of carbon fibres.
The main pathways that EuReComp proposes to achieve circularity will include:
- repairing, repurposing and redesigning parts from end-of-life large scale products and
- recycling and reclamation of the materials used in such parts; thus, accomplishing reduction of waste and transformation to high-added value products.
The methodologies developed within the EuReComp project, will be further tested and validated by developing 5 demonstrators using novel manufacturing methodologies and incorporating recycled materials, obtained from different recycling processes, leading to a range of new circular composites.