Wind turbine blades can’t be recycled, so they’re piling up in landfills. (2020, February 6). Retrieved March 8, 2020, from https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-02-06/wind-turbine-blades

 

This article discusses the problems associated with the recycling of wind turbine blades.  Most blades can last up to 20 years, but majority of them only last about 10 years. This is because new innovations in wind turbine technology are being made at a very fast pace.  As a result of this, most blades are taken down before their lives end because newer, more efficient models replace them. The blades are made of fiberglass and can’t be recycled although they are replaced the most often out of the entire turbine.  However, the rest of the turbine is 85% recyclable.

 

This is an interesting problem to come out of renewable energy.  It is ironic that something so good for the planet can also be so bad for it at the same time.  Although currently there is no solution as to what to do with the old turbine blades, the wind people are working on it.  However, I think I am not alone in that I would rather have this problem of what to do with these extra blades and be tasked to find a solution.  Opposed to the problem of global warming and all of the things that surround it. Before there is expansion in the field of wind energy around the world, I think we must first find a solution as to what to do with these non-recyclable massive objects before we proceed with a large scale operation of wind turbines.