• 110,000 tonnes of composites are produced in the UK every year – but recycling is a problem with just 6% of these materials reused

• Demand for composites expected to rocket thanks to their use in green sectors – including in production of electric cars, hydrogen fuel storage and wind turbines

• Research conducted by us, the National Composites Centre and CPI outlines the chemistry-based solutions needed for Britain to meet net zero targets

A whole life-cycle approach is required to make the UK’s £4billion composites industry more sustainable, our new report Chemistry-enabled sustainable composites has found. We partnered with the National Composites Centre (NCC) and the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) and have identified 19 chemistry-based solutions to improve the environmental impact of the materials, essential to the construction of green technologies such as wind turbines, electric cars and even hydrogen fuel storage. The organisations have joined forces to urge industry, academia, and government to seize on the opportunities they have identified to overhaul a sector that produces more than 110,000 tonnes of fibre-reinforced polymer composites (FRPs) in the UK every year. Production is also expected to rocket by 9% per year over the next 12 years due to growing demand. ....