Recycled fibres in skis are a runaway success

A collaborative effort is underway in Europe to use discarded wind turbine blades to create high-performance skis.

The partnership between Swedish power company Vattenfall, Norwegian recycler Gjenkraft and Norwegian ski manufacturer EVI is said to showcase the potential of a circular economy and offers greater sustainability in the sports industry.

Since 2021, Vattenfall has been working with Gjenkraft to extract fibreglass and carbon fibre from end-of-life blades. Blades from a decommissioned Dutch wind farm were sent to Norway for processing.

EVI, known for its innovative use of recycled materials in ski production, is incorporating carbon fibres from Vattenfall blades to reinforce its skis, enhancing their durability and performance.

World event

Vattenfall wants to recycle 100% of its wind turbine blades by 2030 and has initiated several projects aimed at discovering scalable solutions. It has placed an order with EVI for 15 pairs of skis. Visitors to the World Cup Women’s slalom in Åre in Sweden in early March tried out the skis alongside the competition course.

According to Gustav Frid, environment and sustainability apecialist at Vattenfall, ‘this project perfectly illustrates how technology provides a sustainable alternative to traditional ski-making materials.’

‘Awesome vision’

Marcin Rusin, co-founder of Gjenkraft, says: ‘Our goal has always been to demonstrate that this issue can be resolved. We already had the technology to recover valuable raw materials from composite waste, the next step was to find a high-end product that would appeal to the public.’

The founder of EVI skis, Endre Hals, adds: ‘We are humbly aware that a small ski producer like EVI will never be able to make a big impact on the use of this kind of industrial waste. Therefore, we are extra stoked that Gjenkraft and Vattenfall want to bring us on to realise this awesome vision for the future of product development.’