By Joseph Neubauer | Posted: Fri 7:55 AM, Feb 14, 2020 | Updated: Fri 9:10 AM, Feb 14, 2020
SWEETWATER, Tx. (KOSA) — Wind turbines are a monument of green energy, but what happens when you need to replace the turbine blades? And where do the blades go?
For a time, most blades went straight to landfills. One company in Sweetwater is trying to change that.
“We’re doing the opposite of that. We’re actually keeping the blades from going to landfills,” said Don Lilly, C.E.O, of Global Fiberglass Solutions Inc.
Global Fiberglass Solutions is all about viable and sustainable solutions for recycling fiberglass. Those solutions could prove to be helpful for West Texas, which has seen a recent boom of wind turbines.
“We’ve figured out how to use, basically 99.9% of the blades,” Lilly explained.
What comes out of that 99% are fiberglass pellets. Global Fiberglass Solutions repurposes the pellets for a variety of high-end products that they sell.
“We’ve actually come up with products that people are actually wanting to buy. So, this put it in a very good situation. In regard to taking what’s left of a wind turbine blade, to be used in a remanufactured product,” said Lilly.
Examples of those products include barriers and guardrails.
Higher forms of the product can include materials to construct sturdy flooring and walls.
Global Fiberglass Solutions is now producing samples in Sweetwater.
https://www.cbs7.com/content/news/Nearby-facility-creating-new-uses-of-old-windmill-blades-567872351.html
