JEC WORLD 2022 CONFERENCES: Turning Waste, Recycling & Reuse into Opportunities

JEC WORLD 2022 CONFERENCES: Turning Waste, Recycling & Reuse into Opportunities?

Composites offer sustainability benefits over conventional materials which are increasingly valued in the quest for a carbon-neutral future. They enable the manufacture of strong, lightweight, corrosion resistant products which deliver energy and cost savings over a long service life. But as demand for composite materials continues to grow across countless applications – from large, established markets such as wind energy, to new sectors such as hydrogen vehicles and urban air mobility – the need for industrial-scale waste management solutions to support the transition to a circular economy becomes ever more urgent.?

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Waste as a resource??

Governments and businesses are setting out their visions of a zero-waste future, where products are fully circular and nothing is sent to landfill. Over the coming years, landfill and incineration of waste will become increasing restricted and more costly, and a greater percentage of parts and materials will need to be recovered, recycled and reused from products at the end of their useful life. Every industry is taking a fresh look at the materials they use, their environmental impact, and where waste can be reduced along the supply chain.?

The composites industry and major composites end-users are directing significant efforts into supporting this transition to a circular economy, and an increasing number of organisations are offering composite recycling services. However, composites, as inherently strong, durable and non-homogeneous materials, are intrinsically difficult to recycle and are currently recycled at a much lower rate than many other materials. Thermoplastic composites are typically easier to process since the polymer matrix can be remelted. Recycling of thermoset composites, with fiber recovery, is much more difficult.??

Various mechanical, thermal and chemical technologies to recycle composite parts do exist, but they are in different stages of commercialization and not widely implemented at industrial scale. Developing an economically viable business model is a major challenge for the emerging composites recycling industry, particularly in the case of glass fiber composites. Affordable equipment and processes for the recycling of composite waste, with low environmental (energy) impact, have to be developed. Infrastructure and logistics for waste collection, disassembly and sorting need to be established. And crucially, high-volume applications where recycled composite materials have value, either in the composites industry or external markets, must be identified and demonstrated.??

Design for circular composite products??

Join us at Agora 5 (Hall 5) at 14.45-15.25 on Wednesday May 4th for Design for Circular Composite Products: Turning Waste, Recycling & Reuse into Opportunities. In this session, recycling and sustainability experts will discuss the progress being made in composites recycling and consider the next steps. The speakers are:??

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• Frazer Barnes, Chairman & CTO of Gen 2 Carbon, a producer of recycled carbon fiber products;??
• Giorgio Betteto, R&D CTO, Gees Recycling, a recycler of glass fiber composites;??
• Dan Coughlin, VP, Composites Market Development at the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA);??
• Jen Hill, Director of equipment supplier B&M Longworth (Edgworth).?

The session will be moderated by Malcolm Forsyth, Sustainability Manager, Composites UK.?

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The round table will also be live streamed on the JEC World Connect online platform. If you miss the live event, a recording will be available to watch later.?

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The three further sustainability round-tables are:?

Sustainability of Raw Materials for Composites: Boosting the Circular Revolution, Tuesday May 3rd, 15.00-15.40, Agora 5 (Hall 5);?

Applications of Composite Materials for Circularity: Towards a Net-Zero World, Wednesday May 4th, 10.00-10.40, Agora 6 (Hall 6);?

Rethinking Composite Materials Manufacturing: The Path to Sustainable Production, Wednesday May 4th, 11.30-12.10, Agora 5 (Hall 5).?

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To see the complete JEC World 2022 conference program, visit:? https://www.jec-world.events/program/?

To order your visitor badge or register for the JEC World Connect online platform go to: https://lnkd.in/dQFw4WrC ?