Vestas develops circularity roadmap

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS) this week announced a circularity roadmap as an evolution of its existing target of producing zero-waste turbines by 2040.

The company said it aims to implement a broad circularity approach and to develop the first fully circular wind turbine. The roadmap sets out circularity pathways across its value chain by setting new targets in the areas of design, operations and material recovery.

In design, the manufacturer is committed to increasing material efficiency by 90%, reaching 100% rotor recyclability and reducing supply chain waste by 50% by 2030. Across operations, Vestas will step up its efforts to refurbish and reuse turbine components, targeting 55% total refurbished component utilisation by 2030 and 75% by 2040. With respect to material recovery, Vestas is looking to reduce the manufacturing waste going to landfill to below 1% and ensure more than 94% of manufacturing materials are recycled, up from 52% at the moment, by 2030.

“Eliminating waste from the turbine lifecycle is dependent on building a fully circular value chain,” said Lisa Ekstrand, senior director and head of sustainability at Vestas. “To succeed in this journey, it’s crucial for industry leaders to build mature pathways towards circularity and ensure these are fully adopted across their value chains, as this will help nurture the technological innovation, material volume and stakeholder collaboration needed to grow an industry-wide circular economy,” added Ekstrand.

The company noted that waste reduction is becoming increasingly important in European energy markets as sustainability metrics become part of sales tender processes and regulation around waste management and circularity tighten in some markets.

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