Sustainability

Consumers and end-customers require high quality products and solutions that bring convenience to our lives and are affordable at the same time..

Yet, sustainability and reduction of environmental footprint are increasingly driving consumer purchasing behaviours.

Composite materials based on UP / VE RESINS allow sustainability to be an integral part of product design: these versatile materials play a key role in improving our lives whilst protecting the environment.

Cured-in-Place Pipe technology allows fast and cost-efficient pipe rehabilitation without the need to open roads, avoiding diversion of traffic and minimising disruption for residents.

Using light weight composite body and structural parts help reduce emission of cars, trucks and planes.
Composites enable both performance and sustainability of wind energy by enabling lighter and longer blades, optimising conversion efficiency and increasing turbine power output.
Composites bridges are light weight, easier to install and require less maintenance thanks to superior corrosion resistance compared to traditional materials.
Composites enable the innovative design of new types of vehicles be it electrical or hydrogen powered.
Artificial stone is a growing sector that offering an improved surface finish and protection combined with design flexibility as well as saving natural resources.

Composites Recycling and Life Cycle Analysis

The UP / VE RESINS Industry has been working together to roll out solutions for composites recycling.  Today, the main technology for recycling glass reinforced composite waste is through co-processing in cement clinker manufacturing. Cement co-processing is commercially available for processing large volumes of composite waste.

In this process the mineral fraction of the waste is fully recycled in the cement clinker, while the energy content of the waste is recovered as thermal energy, thus substituting fuels like coal.  This process is fully compliant with the Waste Framework Directive WFD 2008/98/EC and allows significant CO2 emission reduction (up to 16% is possible if composites represent 75% of used raw materials) in cement manufacturing process.

The CEFIC UP / VE RESINS Group started a collaboration with Wind Europe and EuCIA (European Composites Industry Association) to further develop waste collection and recycling routes of wind turbine blades.  In May 2020 a comprehensive report “Accelerating Wind Turbine Blade Circularity” was released providing a summary of the existing recycling and recovery technologies for treating composite waste as well as recommendations for research and innovation to further enhance wind turbine circularity.

The CEFIC UP / VE RESINS group has also contributed to the development of the ECO Calculator by EuCIA, an effective and reliable Life Cycle Analysis tool for Composites and its key constituents UPR and glass fibers. The tool is available through the following link: http://ecocalculator.eucia.eu/.