Iowa Dumping Old Wind Turbine Blades In South Dakota; So Much For Re-Cycling -- September 5, 2019

Updates

Later, 12:46 p.m. CT: fiberglass cannot be re-cycled. A reader sent me this link. "Fiberglass is nearly impossible to recycle, yet we must be careful to handle fiberglass properly and not lets its toxins collect in landfills." Link here.

Original Post 

 

North Dakota legislature is looking into this issue; they better move fast. Iowa is dumping wind turbines on unsuspecting landfills.

From The [Sioux Falls, SD] Argus Leader:

Iowa wind-farms brought dozens of their old turbine blades to the Sioux Falls dump this summer.

But City Hall says it won't take anymore unless owners take more steps to make the massive fiberglass pieces less space consuming.

The wind energy industry isn't immune to cyclical replacement, with turbine blades needing to be replaced after a decade or two in use. That has wind energy producers looking for places to accept the blades on their turbines that need to be replaced. 

For at least two wind-farms in northern Iowa, they've found the Sioux Falls Regional Sanitary Landfill to be a suitable facility to take its aged-out turbine blades.

"Decade or two." ??? Good reporting.

Re-cycling?

And millennials are worried about plastic straws. Well, good for them.