Recycling strategies and products of the DeremCo project. (Credits of the Figure: Jesse Savolainen)
cient way (Figure 2.b). The project also produced lear- ning resources, including a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) and serious games, to educate current and futu- re engineers on composite sustainability. DeremCo, 2022-2026, funded by EU While RECREATE focused more on novel research, DeremCo aimed to scale up existing recycling techno- logies in collaboration with companies by estab - lishing regional value chains. Two different recycling strategies and waste streams were demonstrated for glass- and carbon fibre reinforced composites: mecha- nical recycling for end-of-life wind turbine blades, and pyrolysis for carbon-fibre production scrap. Ground GFRP was processed into glass fibre mats or com- pounded with thermoplastic matrices, while pyrolyzed carbon fibres (rCF) were manufactured into nonwo- ven mats through airlaying. Tampere University’s main role in DeremCo was the development of surface treat - ments for the rCF mats, as these are removed during the pyrolysis process. To use rCF in more demanding app - lications, sufficient load transfer from the matrix to the fibre is required. This can be achieved through liquid sur - face treatments, known as sizing. The mechanically recycled glass fibre composites and pyrolytically recycled carbon fibres were utilized in products across the automotive, design and furnitu-
re, construction, and aeronautical sectors. By the end of the project, 13 companies had developed business and investment plans for products incorporating recycled fib- res. Some of these products are presented in Figure 3. While the technical aspects of the demonstrators were successfully addressed, the most significant risks iden - tified for the corresponding business cases were security of supply, completeness of the value chain, and the cost of recycled raw materials. CompoREC, 2025-2027, co-funded by Business Finland On-going CompoREC project aims to develop circular economy solutions that enable the recovery and reuse of valuable materials from composite structures in next-ge- neration products. The project focuses on scalable che- mical and thermal recycling technologies suitable for industrial application in Finland, with the aim of redu- cing the need for virgin materials. Centria Universi - ty of Applied Sciences and VTT are jointly developing a solvolysis process for recycling Finnish fibre-reinfor- ced composite waste. VTT is also developing a pyroly- sis process for abrasive products. Tampere University is responsible for the characterization of reinforcing fibres and the development of next-generation reinforcement mats (Figure 2.c). The project is introduced in more detail in MuoviPlast 1/2026.
c) Nonwoven rGF mat
a) CFRP after mechanical recycling b) CFRP after solvolysis
CFRPs after a) mechanical recycling (produced with Carbon Cleanup’s CARBON EATER microfactory) and b) solvolysis from the RECREATE project, and a nonwoven mat (c) made of recycled glass fibres in the CompoREC project. (Credits of the Figure: Essi Sarlin, Anni Lahti)
3/2026 MUOVIPLAST 35
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