Taiwan-based Swancor Holding is looking to develop chemically recyclable blades and is aiming for the production of zero-waste turbines by 2040, Bloomberg reports. Wind power has been criticized as “ trash energy,” CEO Robert Tsai told the news outlet, because of the unrecyclable blades mainly due to hardened resin which makes it difficult to extract and reuse the carbon fibers.

The solution: Swancor is developing a new dissolvable resin that possesses the same physical properties as traditional resins currently used in manufacturing. The resin can be dissolved in a degradation liquid produced by the company, called CleaVER, allowing the blades to be more easily repurposed.

Why does this matter? With the number of wind turbines installed worldwide growing as the world accelerates the transition to renewable energy and shifts to wind power, waste from retired blades is expected to grow 20x to reach 782k tons by 2044, according to Bloomberg. Brussels-based wind energy advocacy group WindEurope previously estimated that about 25k tonnes of blades a year will reach the end of their life cycle by 2025, with projections of that number rising to 52k tonnes a year by 2030.

More firms are taking a crack at it: Denmark-based wind turbine manufacturer Vestas revealed last year that it developed a chemical dissolvent capable of breaking down wind turbine blades in a bid to crack down on landfill waste levels. Michigan State University scientists also developed a new resin coating for blades that can be dissolved and used to help make a range of products including car tail lights, windows, laptop covers, diapers, and countertops, or even wind turbine blades.

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