Can you find any products made with this so-called "smart RX polymer", of which there are almost no details, actually on the market? As far as I can tell they're only storing the turbine blades for later processing.

https://mastodon.green/@CiaraNi/114872911670940099

My argument doesn't really hinge on a specific company though, there's others if this one can't deliver on its promises.

@radicalabacus @schnedan @ar387

If this wind park can be used as a yardstick, these 33,000 blades will be replaced every 28 years, but not all at the same time.
With an average of 1,180 blades per year and assuming they are all the very large kind that weighs 26t,(1) that's 30,380t of blades to recycle every year.

That's less than the stated capacity of the factory that uses them to create RX Polymer (2) and ~1.70% of the yearly plastic production in the United Kingdom(3).

In 2025, the blades produced 85 TWh(4), the equivalent of 1.450 times their own mass in coal (5).

Yes, fully recyclable material would be better, but given that blades can be safely stored before recycling, are not as radioactive or toxic as fly ash and do not continuously emit CO2 it seems prudent to use them instead of waiting for something better.

(1) https://theroundup.org/how-much-does-a-wind-turbine-blade-weigh/
(2) https://plaswire.com/solutions/
(3) https://www.bpf.co.uk/industry/Default.aspx
(4) https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz947djd3d3o
(5) https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=667&t=2

@radicalabacus @schnedan @ar387

@ar387

there is no english version, but this page lists plastic variant markings.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurzzeichen_(Kunststoff)

e.g. GF: glasfaserverstärkt (engl. glass fibre)

you can include the markings in the mold, laser em,... it will last a long time.

they can cope with some degree of impurities and need fair amounts of material:

https://meiller-umwelttechnik.de/produkt-kategorie/aussenanlagen-stadtmobiliar/parkbank-tisch-sitzgruppen/parkbank/parkbank-aus-kunststoff/

https://www.relux-umwelt.de/leistungen/bahnschwellen/
https://pioonier.com/kunststoff-bahnschwellen/

I can't find products made from "Plaswire's smart RX Polymer" for sale anywhere, it looks like more greenwashing. Last year Plaswire were jumping on the blockchain bandwagon.

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/business/lurgan-recycling-innovator-pioneers-world-first-blockchain-system-to-trace-recycled-wind-turbine-bladesfor-the-first-time-we-can-provide-complete-transparency-5401812

Doubt it's possible

Yes but so far that means: less stability, more weight, less efficiency, more cost.

Then you can use materials which allow full recycling.

In Germany the press said: you can't made this much railway sleepers or park benches. At least you need to burn these materials. And in Germany - to my knowledge - there is only one plant which can burn glasfiber - and it's way to small to process the amounts comming.

It just delays the inceneration/landfill step. There are currently 33000 blades in the UK to replace and we need better solutions than shredding them to mix with even more plastic. It looks nice in the headlines, which is the main reason for doing it, but we're creating an even more difficult recycling problem for the future.

I was informed by an associate in the field, that more goes into reprocessing the blades, than the actual benefit over competing clean energy metrics.

Then again, how many of the principals are supplying accurate data, and to whom?