ELG and Land Rover BAR focus on recycling carbon fiber

ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd and yacht racing team Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) have formed a plan to help ensure that the carbon fiber process waste and end-of-use components from the team are recycled as far as possible.

ELG is to become a technical supplier to the team and will process all carbon fiber manufacturing waste and end-of use parts to recover the carbon fibers they contain. The recovered fibers will be converted into ELG’s milled and chopped fibers to make thermoset and thermoplastic compounds and nonwoven mats for composite structures.

In particular, ELG’s CARBISO products will be made entirely from reprocessed Land Rover BAR carbon components such as hull molds, hulls and foils from boats used in past race campaigns, the company says.

The work is based on successful feasibility studies that have shown that high quality carbon fibers can be recovered from the process waste and end-of-use parts and converted into products that are usable in the marine sector. 

‘It is hugely rewarding to see such an environmentally aware team as Land Rover BAR championing the issue of closed loop recycling in the marine sector,’ said Frazer Barnes, ELG Carbon Fibre’s managing director.

‘Our desire to be the world’s most sustainable sports team has meant that recycling the significant amounts of carbon fiber that we use in boat construction has been a concern for us for some while,’ said Michel Marie, Land Rover BAR’s manufacturing manager. ‘This will be a very significant issue, not just for the marine industry but for the wider world in the coming decades and we have to start now and push hard to develop awareness and find solutions.’