The wind industry has made significant steps towards becoming even more sustainable. Today, most wind turbine components can be recycled. Yet one critical challenge remains: the recycling of turbine blades, which are made of complex composite materials that are difficult to process at end of life.
At Vestas, addressing this challenge is a top priority. As part of its global sustainability strategy, the company has committed to producing zero-waste turbines by 2040 and delivering a 100% recyclable rotor by 2030. Turning these ambitions into reality requires both technological innovation and strong collaboration across the value chain.
A breakthrough for composite recycling
To overcome the recycling challenge, Vestas, together with Aarhus University, the Danish Technological Institute, and Olin, launched the CETEC initiative in 2021, supported by Innovation Fund Denmark. The goal was to develop a viable pathway to enable circularity for epoxy-infused turbine blades without changing their design or material composition.
The result is a breakthrough chemical process capable of separating composite materials by breaking down the epoxy resin that binds them together. This allows key materials, such as glass fibres, to be recovered and reused.
While the technology also enables the conversion of recovered epoxy into virgin-grade resin, current efforts are focused on scaling and industrialising the material separation process, where the greatest environmental impact can be achieved.
From laboratory to testbed
A crucial step towards industrialisation has been the partnership between Vestas and Stena Recycling, one of Europe’s leading recycling companies. Together, they are building a value chain for processing epoxy-infused end-of-life turbine blades.
The CETEC technology has now been transferred to Stena Recycling’s R&D facility in Halmstad, Sweden. Here, the project has advanced from laboratory-scale to a fully operational testbed designed to handle larger volumes of composite material.
Constructed in mid-2025 at the Stena Nordic Recycling Center, this testbed marks a major milestone in the journey towards scalable blade recycling. It enables the processing of larger blade components and generates sufficient volumes of recovered materials for downstream partners to test in their own production systems.
Proven results at scale
Progress at the Halmstad testbed has been promising. To date, more than 500 tests have been completed, demonstrating consistent and reliable separation of epoxy-infused blade materials.
This transition, from laboratory to testbed, represents a critical step in bridging the gap between innovation and implementation. It proves that the technology can deliver stable results beyond the laboratory and opens the door to further scaling.
At this stage, blade parts are prepared and processed to enable test-scale separation, laying the groundwork for future industrial solutions. The recovered materials are currently being evaluated to determine how they can be reused in new applications.
Enabling a circular value chain
By producing larger volumes of recovered materials, the project allows downstream partners to test the integration into their own manufacturing processes. This is a key step in building a circular value chain, where materials from decommissioned blades can be reintegrated into new products. Together, Vestas and Stena Recycling are actively exploring these pathways, moving closer to solutions that can be deployed at commercial scale.
The journey towards fully recyclable wind turbines is complex. However, this milestone confirms that the industry is on the right path. By combining innovation, partnerships, and a shared commitment to sustainability, the goal of producing zero-waste turbines is moving closer.
Follow Vestas circularity journey and watch episodes 1 and 2 of the Blade Circularity series:
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Vestas is a partner of WindDay. Meet them on 11 June at the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht.
