Continuum, a new European business, claims all wind turbine blades are 100% recyclable. When the end of their first life finally arrives, Continuum wants to recycle them into new, composite panels for the construction, and related industries.
By working with partners, Continuum’s solution covers end-to-end logistics and processes. This spans from the collection of the end-of-life blades through to the reclamation of the pure clean raw materials and then the remanufacturing of all those materials into recyclable composite panels for the construction industry or the manufacture of many day-to- day products such as facades, industrial doors, and kitchen countertops. The panels are 92% recycled blade material.
Thanks to investment from Climentum Capital and a grant from the UK’s ‘Offshore Wind Growth Partnership’, Continuum are planning for the first of six factories in Esbjerg to be operational by the end of 2024 and for a second factory in the United Kingdom to follow on just behind it. After that they are looking to build another four in France, Germany, Spain, and Turkey by 2030. Each Continuum factory in Europe will have the capacity to recycle a minimum of 36,000 tonnes of end- of-life turbine blades per year.