{"id":22672,"date":"2023-04-14T12:29:41","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T10:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ribsonly.com\/2\/?p=22672"},"modified":"2023-04-14T13:20:55","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T11:20:55","slug":"the-future-of-glass-fibres-by-jeroen-wats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ribsonly.com\/2\/the-future-of-glass-fibres-by-jeroen-wats\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Glass Fibres by Jeroen Wats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The
The Future of Glass Fibres by Jeroen Wats<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jeroen Wats<\/a>, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at ExoTechnologies<\/a> wrote this inspiring article on LinkedIn. Published here with permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Future of Glass Fibres <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

March 27, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spreading news, creating awareness, awareness which leads to concern and concern which leads to action. We are on a pathway of changes. That is positive right? But how far are we\u2026?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recycling composites is a topic which grows attention and it is absolutely great news that some big yacht builders and wind turbine manufacturers are jumping on the recyclability aspect for their products in order to be \u201cguilt free\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\u2026 are these developments \u201cground breaking\u201d, \u201cgreenwashing\u201d, or maybe something in the middle?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Recycling glass fibres is without any doubt a step in the right direction. Re-using the fibres for another application will slow the growing landfill issues down, yet\u2026 it doesn\u2019t solve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back at a recent interview<\/a> I had with Rhea Rouw from Yachting International Radio, there was a topic coming up which made me think very clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhea (always very straight forward and unfiltered) explained how her father used paper bags which he repurposed over and again before it was disposed of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That paper bag turned into a plastic bag which was the breakthrough of these times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once we realised the horrendous effects of plastic on the planet, we changed our ways and are moving back to paper bags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was the plastic bag bad? Yes sure, but what did we knew then about the effect of plastic in the future to come?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are hard lessons and is costing society a staggering amount of money to clean up what we have polluted. Even with all the recyclable aspects of plastic today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that made me think. Taking the paper bag as an example. Glass fibre production was a break through. A new way of cost effective alternatives over conventional production methods<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that time: perfect and as previously stated, not knowing then what the environmental side effects of GRP would be in in the future to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"GRP
The Future of Glass Fibres – GRP mostly ends up in landfill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And here we are: Just in the EU over 250.000.000 kg of GRP end in landfill\u2026 every year! And apart from the recent re-using aspects there is more to come to the side effects of glass fibres. Taking negative effects on subjects like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n