Recycling Ofcomposites

FEATURE

Recycling

composites

commercially

Glass fibre and carbon fibre reinforced plastics (GRP and CFRP) have

excellent properties, but one barrier to the increased use of these

materials is the lack of recycling facilities. Stella Job reports.

G

lass and carbon fibres are inherently energy intensive to produce

and resins used in composites are

almost all oil-derived. The ‘composite’ nature

of these materials and the predominantly

cross-linked matrices used are what give

them such excellent properties, but at the

same time make them difficult to recycle.

Seeking to gain as much value as possible

from production and end of life waste is

a quest worth pursuing, but it is a quest

which a great many have embarked upon

and few have reached the goal.

Table 1 lists the companies of which the

author is aware who, at the time of writing,

are taking waste from the composites industry

and recycling it into marketable products.

Table 2 lists several companies which are

close to this position. No doubt there are

more, in addition to a good number of

companies recycling in-house or in business

to business relationships. For example, M-C-R,

part of Groupe Plastic Omnium, have been

recycling their clients’ GRP waste as filler back

into moulding compounds for many years.

Cured carbon fibre waste prior to recycling. (Picture courtesy of ELG Carbon Fibre.)

32

REINFORCEDplastics

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014

This article celebrates those who have

reached the goal and, though they may still

be growing and developing, are commercially recycling composite materials.

0034-3617/14 ©2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

FEATURE

Company/location

Materials recycled

Process/capacity

Recyclate market

Website/contact

CFK Valley Stade

Recycling GmbH &

carboNXT GmbH Stade,

Germany

All kinds of CFRP

waste materials

Pyrolysis,

>1000 tonnes/year,

launched in 2011

Milled 80-500 μm. Fibreball/

pelletised/chopped 1-100...