EuCIA welcomes industry to complete composites waste and recycling survey

The European Composites Industry Association (EuCIA, Brussels, Belgium) is collaborating with its members UP/VE Resins and Epoxy Europe — sector groups of the European Chemical Industry Council, or Cefic (Brussels) — to organize the European Composites Waste & Recycling Market Survey. Survey findings will support EuCIA’s initiatives to promote the building of a composites recycling infrastructure in Europe.

“EuCIA is committed to supporting the sustainable growth of the European composites industry and this survey will help us to address the current lack of reliable data on end-of-use composites and waste management practices across Europe,” Raphaël Pleynet, managing director of EuCIA, explains. “We will also identify the key challenges to recycling in different countries.”

Composite materials will be instrumental in the transition to a climate-neutral economy due to their application in key sectors such as wind energy and transportation. However, recycling solutions are needed as a growing number of composite components near the end of their service life. EuCIA estimates the total volume of thermoset composites waste in Europe is currently around 400 kilotons/year. This includes production waste and end-of-use waste. EuCIA estimates that 40-70% of this waste is currently landfilled or incinerated without energy recovery, but exact figures are not available.

The European Composites Waste & Recycling Market Survey aims to better quantify composites waste volumes in Europe and to identify the main barriers to composites recycling today. The survey is open to companies involved in composites manufacturing in Europe (part manufacturers, end-users, materials suppliers, recyclers) operating across all end-use markets and composites transformation processes. Cefic’s statistics group will collect and analyze the survey responses and the results will be reported on an anonymous basis.

The survey is available here. It is available in six languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish) and should take approximately 6-8 minutes to complete.

The deadline to complete the form is Oct. 31, 2023. EuCIA will communicate the survey findings in early 2024.

For related content, read “EuCIA participates in EU-funded REFRESH wind blade recycling project.”