Industry alliance targets closed-loop circularity for nautical construction

Global industry companies including The Beneteau Group (Croix de Vie, France), Veolia (Aubervilliers, France), Arkema (Cologne, Germany), Owens Corning (Toledo, Ohio, U.S.), Composite Recycling (Écublens, Switzerland) and Chomarat (Le Cheylard, France) are uniting under an initiative to achieve circularity in boat production. Launched in Western France, the nautical alliance will offer a circularity model for composites sustainability.

For sailors and boat enthusiasts alike, the initiative lays the groundwork for boats built from recycled materials in order to reduce environmental impact. Beyond the marine industry, this collaboration will demonstrate how circular manufacturing can be applied across all industries reliant on composites, including automotive, aerospace, wind energy and construction. 

Benchmarks will be made covering production, waste collection, recycling, reintegration and reuse. Initiative partners are to deliver on the following items:

• Veolia, is leading waste management and environmental services, gathering composite production scraps and bringing them to its recycling site in Western France.
• Composite Recycling will be using its thermolysis technology to separate and recycle the scraps into reclaimed glass fiber and thermolysis oil.
• Arkema’s specialization in specialty materials will aid it in transforming this thermolysis oil into new Elium resin
• Owens Corning and Chomarat will both take on producing novel fiberglass reinforcement from Composite Recycling’s reclaimed material
• The Beneteau Group, a manufacture of sailing and motorboats, will incorporate these recyclable composite materials — the Elium resin and reclaimed fiberglass — into the manufacture of new boats, closing the loop.

The initiative, in addition to composites sustainability, is demonstrating other smaller, but just important, things. This includes showcasing how Elium resin works at scale, how industry players are unlocking their abilities to achieve circularity for their customers, various composites waste treatment alternatives available to industry, how recycled fibers can be seamlessly reintegrated into new, high-quality materials and more.

“This isn’t just about sustainable boatbuilding,” says Guillaume Perben, co-founder of Composite Recycling. “It’s a proof of concept for every industry that uses composites.”