Project PRoGrESS sought to address one of the major challenges facing the composites industry today – how to successfully recycle a rapidly-increasing volume of end-of-life GRP waste (specifically wind turbine blades) in an economically and environmentally positive manner. The project focused on scaling up the proprietary fluidised bed GRP recycling process developed by the University of Strathclyde, validating the use of the recycled fibres produced in a variety of downstream applications and proving the necessary waste downsizing process methodology, to generate all the necessary inputs for a commercial business investment model. Over 3 years, work in all these critical areas was completed using a pilot plant assembled at the University of Strathclyde’s Glasgow facilities, enabling lead commercial partner Cubis Systems Limited to assess the scale at which such a continuous process would generate positive economic and environmental results.

The project partners – University of Strathclyde, University of Nottingham, Cubis Systems Limited, Suez Recovery & Recycling Limited, GRP Solutions Limited and Composites UK Limited – are delighted with the results achieved and that Cubis Systems Limited and the University of Strathclyde are continuing their collaboration to further develop the technology, alongside Cubis Systems’ consideration of an investment in an intermediate-scale GRP recycling plant.

Malcolm Forsyth, Sustainability Manager at Composites UK, and overall project lead for Project PRoGrESS, commented: “Project PRoGrESS has been a challenging but very rewarding project to work on and the successful achievement of the full project scope is a testimony to the hard work and determination of all the project partners despite some significant obstacles encountered. We believe that with the successful completion of Project PRoGrESS, we have moved a significant step closer to GRP recycling becoming a commercial reality in the UK and are confident that Cubis Systems Limited and the University of Strathclyde will successfully build on the outcome of Project PRoGrESS in the coming years.”