12 April 2024, Saxony, Leipzig: In the technical center on the campus of the University of Applied Sciences (HTWK), research assistant Philipp Johst from the team led by HTWK Professor of Lightweight Construction with Composite Materials Robert Böhm holds the shredded material from a part of a dismantled 25-year-old wind turbine rotor blade in his hand for a test. The tests are part of EuReCOMP, an EU-funded collaborative research project that aims to develop sustainable methods for recycling and reusing composite materials from wind energy components. Scientists from colleges, universities and institutions in Germany, Portugal, Spain and Greece are currently working on the research project, which will run until 2026. Among other things, the aim is to develop methods to reduce the large amount of waste from obsolete wind turbine rotor blades and the associated ecological problems at landfills with new technologies. - Photo: Waltraud Grubitzsch/dpa