The fully recycling wind turbines blades future in Groningen, Netherlands

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Starter Kit collection

Business case

Impact on the availability of resources as well as their effect on living organisms, ecosystems, and components of the environment.

Ecological Impact

Impacts on the financial condition of a company, as well as the the economicconditions of its stakeholders and on economic systems at local, national, andglobal levels.

Economic Impact

Impact on the ease of innovation, and facilitating uptake of innovations

Innovation

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Extracting resources and processing them to produce materials for use bysociety

Materials and Fuels

Societal Services

Providing electricity and gas services, including traditional and renewable energy generation, natural and manufactured gas and operating gas networks

Energy Utilities and Independent Power Producers

Producing and refining oil, gas, and other consumable fuels related to the generation of energy

Consumable Fuels

Ensure renewable, reusable, non-toxic resources are utilised as materials and energy in an efficient way

Prioritise regenerative resources

Utilise bio-based, reusable, non-toxic and non-critical materials

Regenerative materials

Enacting measures that optimise material use such as 3D printing, etc.

Material efficiency

'Regulate' changes the rules of the systems to achieve compliance through enforcement. 


Regulate

 Regulation

Environmental assessment & permits

Eliminate waste by maximizing the recovery of resources at the end of the use phase so that they can be reintroduced into production processes


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Recover

Process waste into valuable industrial inputs or consumer products; distribute processed waste to users.

Process waste and ensure its re-entry into industry at its highest value

Cities consume about 75% of global energy and emit between 50% and 60% of global greenhouse gases (UN-Habitat). To reduce the negative impact of their energy consumption, cities need to shift away from fossil fuels and move towards renewable energy sources. Such a shift will help cities work towards their climate change mitigation and adaptation action plans. Renewable energy technologies such as wind, water, solar, and geothermal can also help improve access to energy in vulnerable and marginalised neighbourhoods through, for example, decentralised, off-grid solutions.

Renewable energy technologies can harvest the energy in nature’s processes, such as wind, and solar radiation and geothermal heat, that can be replenished within a human lifespan. In contrast, fossil fuels are materials that are not replenished within a human lifespan and are combusted for energy, losing the fuel material and resulting in emissions.

Local governments can develop sustainable energy plans, considering different energy resources and requirements, to develop a robust strategy for the development of renewable energy technologies and infrastructure throughout the city. They can also institute specific legislation and tax systems to regulate energy production and consumption, incentivise research and development of cleaner, more efficient technologies. Via Power Purchase Agreements cities can buy renewable energy from green energy providers and fix the price in order to provide security to financial institutions to finance renewable energy infrastructure. Furthermore, increasing awareness and facilitating capacity-building on planning urban sustainable energy projects can help the uptake of clean energy across the city by different stakeholders—from citizens to businesses and institutions. Facilitating collaboration, then, will be crucial, since private companies operate most of the world’s energy systems.


⚡ Energy Systems

Businesses

Governments

Regenerate strategies phase out hazardous or toxic materials and processes and substitute them with regenerative biomass resources. A circular economy aims to mimic natural cycles—by shifting to more regenerative farming practices, for example—while also maximising the share of circular biomass that enters the economy. Regeneration can happen both at the systems level (by designing regenerative processes) as well as at the product level (by switching synthetic to organic fertilisers, for example).

Regenerate

Impacts

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Industries

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A framework of policy instruments that enabled and encourage the transition to the circular economy

Policy Instruments

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A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to the circular economy

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

The Circular City Actions Framework provides urban changemakers with five complementary strategies they can use to start working towards a more circular system. 

The framework is action-based to provide users with concrete strategic directions and showcase the desired outcomes of each strategy. 
The framework consists of five complementary **strategies**, under which **sub-strategies** provide further detail. Finally, each sub-strategy consists of a diversity of tangible **solutions** which are framed in relation to key thematic areas. 

Note: solutions are currently focused on:
- 🍏 **Food systems**
- 🏢  **Built environment**
- 👕📱  **Consumer goods**
- ⚡ **Energy Systems**
- 🚌 **Mobility Systems**
- 💧 **Water Systems**

More thematic areas are coming soon...

'Click through each of the five strategy cards below to explore the framework and circular economy case studies in more depth!'



This framework was developed in collaboration with ICLEI, Metabolic and Ellen MacArthur Foundation with support from the MAVA Foundation. Read more about it [here]( https://circulars.iclei.org/action-framework/). 



Circular City Actions Framework

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An action-based framework for local governments working towards circular cities

Thematic Areas

City Stakeholders

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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The Netherlands is increasingly focusing on green energy, and new wind turbines are being built at a rapid pace, both on land and at sea. But what should be done with the wind turbine blades when they are decommissioned? A circular recycling process has been set up in Eemshaven in Groningen, which covers everything from dismantling these rotor blades to reusing the raw materials. “You can use them in 3D printers and countless other applications,” says Maaike van Heeren, communications consultant at Chemport Europe, an incubator for green chemistry, which is involved in the project. 
Anyone who thinks about wind turbines soon imagines a clean environment. Although wind energy is making an indispensable contribution to the energy transition, the actual recycling of the blades is far from sustainable. They usually end up in a landfill or in an incinerator and are still rarely reused for high-end applications. This is now about to change in Groningen. Various companies, organizations and educational institutions are joining forces to set up the Decom North consortium. The aim is to make recycling viable. This is quite a daunting task: the blades are made of composite, a material as strong as steel. Yet it can be done. Chemport Europe, Groningen Seaports and the Offshore Wind Innovation Centre, among others, all play an important role in the establishment of the consortium. 
An entire chain
“Recycling composites is not new,” van Heeren points out. “But it is new that an entire chain is being set up. From dismantling, the logistics, the processing of the composites, to making new raw materials and doing research into high-end applications: it’s all happening here in Groningen.” The ultimate goal is clear. “Windmills for windmills,” says van Heeren. “However, that is not possible at the moment, because as soon as you cut into the blades, the strength goes out of the material, which is made of fiberglass and resin. Eventually, though, it should be possible. But until that time, countless other applications are possible. The great thing about this is that it is already happening – processing blades into new products. So, as a result, CO2 is being saved right now.”
Pilot plant
In a brand new pilot plant in Eemshaven, where the blades are chemically recycled, there is scope for researchers and students as part of the Knowledge-based High-value Applications Project. This project is looking for applications that are of the highest possible quality. Students from Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Stenden and Hanze University of Applied Sciences, among others, are able to work on projects at the pilot plant. “I think it’s really cool that students from the region are involved and can contribute to the energy transition this way,” says Van Heeren. Students are able to work on different research questions. “What are all the materials that can be used? What properties does a certain raw material have? And how much CO2 can you actually save? I can see plenty of opportunities for the students.”
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Chippings from windmill blades. Photo: CRC Decom North
Shoring up shoreline banks and construction materials
Sylvia Oomen, managing director of Circular Recycling Company (CRC) is involved in the pilot plant that is coming to Eemshaven. “The aim of the plant is to make raw materials when recycling the blades and to cut down on CO2 in the process. Applications are possible in shoreline revetments (ed. a revetment serves as a protection for a shoreline bank, to protect against, among other things, wave motion). Often posts are installed there that are made of tropical hardwood. We can use raw materials from the pilot plant instead. In addition, a company like Nedcam from Heerenveen can use raw materials for printing objects in 3D. I am also excited about applications in the construction industry. The construction industry has traditionally not been particularly circular. We can use our raw materials to make more sustainable plates and posts.”
Also interesting: Quickly detect damage in wind turbine blades with Tarucca’s AI
Tests and challenges
Before any of these applications become a reality, tests and calculations must be done first. Until that happens, the consortium is turning to Neocomp in Bremen. That company processes the cut-out fiberglass and synthetic resin rotor blades into cement. Oomen: “We face major challenges. We have to be able to supply consistent, dependable materials to the construction and automotive industries, for instance. That calls for complex calculations. And we must, for example, look at tensile forces on the material by doing casting tests whereby we work with molds.
In part due to these challenges, it will take some time before the fully circular ‘windmill for windmill’ process will be in place. “There is an insane amount of force on the blades of wind turbines. If your material is not consistent, and a blade is 10 percent heavier, then you are already contending with an energy yield that is significantly less. Eventually, it should be possible to find applications for wind turbines, but until then, we already have some great products that we can make.”
Just the beginning
Oomen envisages that similar projects will be launched elsewhere in the country over the coming years. “The project is completely in line with the targets set by the Netherlands to go green. As a consumer, if you find out that your green electricity is generated by a wind turbine that is subsequently incinerated or dumped and buried, that doesn’t make you very cheerful. I am confident that as a country we are becoming increasingly aware and are taking better care of the earth.”
You can read other stories about Groningen via this link. 

Groningen

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Chemport Europe is an ecosystem for companies that are committed to developing a greener chemical sector.

Chemport Europe

Groningen Seaports is the economic operator, developer and authority for the port of Delfzijl, Eemshaven and the adjoining industrial sites. The organisation provides the complete package of port services to its industrial and commercial clients, from logistics and infrastructure services to the issue and maintenance of the sites in both port regions. 

Groningen Seaports

The Offshore Wind Innovation Centre (OWIC) in Eemshaven is an information, training and innovation centre aimed at companies and knowledge institutions involved in offshore wind energy. The aim of OWIC is to facilitate the development of activity and innovation in the field of offshore wind energy. It brings together knowledge and experience and makes it accessible to governments, knowledge institutions and the business community.

Offshore Wind Innovation Centre

<p>A pilot plant for recycling windmill blades is being built in Groningen, the northeastern province of the Netherlands.&nbsp;Nowadays, recycling composites, such as wind turbine blades, is not new technology, but new to include all chains to do it.</p>