Sweden Tests Chemical Recycling for Wind Turbine Blades: Can It Solve the Blade Waste Problem?

Wind turbine blades are built to survive storms for decades, which makes them very hard to recycle. A Swedish project led by Stena Recycling and Vestas is testing a chemical process that separates fiberglass, plastic, and aluminum from old blades. That could keep thousands of tons of composite waste out of landfills as the first big wave of retired turbines arrives. The article notes that most of a turbine is easily recyclable metal, but blades are a different challenge. Europe banned landfilling blades in 2026, so the pressure is on to find working solutions. The open question is cost and whether there will be buyers for the recovered materials. Shredding blades for cement kilns is an option, but recovering clean fiberglass would preserve more value.