Green? Energy

Sweetwater, Texas. Nice enough place – first town of any size out of Abilene headed to El Paso. Who would think they would be at the center of a green energy controversy?

One of the parts of the bill of goods sold us on green energy is how “clean” it is. Everything making energy from natural forces like wind and solar, and when it wears out, it’s all recyclable. Except – it isn’t. Should be – there are a recycling centers which recycle almost anything, but fiberglass is a specialty process.

While recycling fiberglass is technically possible, the process is not as straightforward or universally available as it is for materials like aluminum or certain thermoplastics. Its complex composition requires specialized industrial processes, making recycling less common than disposal in landfills. Biology Insights

From the same article, one of the ways to recycle fiberglass is to grind it up, almost to powder. This also reduces the glass strand length, weakening it. Or you can heat it high temperatures – has to be high to separate the glass. The resins which hold it together are thermoset resins, which, once set, can’t just be reheated for easy processing like thermoplastic resins such as those used in most molding. Then you have contaminants like paint, grease, metal fittings etc. which also need to be removed. Can fiberglass be recycled? Yes. Easily or cheaply? No, not yet.

Now imagine it in BIG chunks. Like, say the wind turbine  blades you see driving down the highway. Wind turbines die all the time – they have a finite lifespan like most mechanical devices. Plus, they are ‘way high in the air, so replacing parts is tough. Much of the time, when they die, catch on fire, go bad – they just get left in place, two hundred plus feet of conundrum – what the heck are we supposed to do with THAT?

Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Global Fiberglass Solutions, Inc. and several affiliated entities, alleging the companies illegally dumped and abandoned thousands of wind turbine blades across two sites in Sweetwater.

Global Fiberglass Solutions, a company who promised to recycle the big fiberglass wind turbine blades, provide jobs, etc.

According to the lawsuit, Global was hired by various companies to break down and recycle the massive turbine components. Instead, investigators documented a stockpile of more than 3,000 blades and nacelles, the housings that enclose turbine engines, abandoned at the two facilities.

The state alleges that as of March 2025, the sites contained approximately 487,000 cubic yards of solid waste.

The lawsuit names Global Fiberglass Solutions of Texas, LLC, Global Fiberglass Solutions, Inc., GFSI-MHE Manufacturing of Texas, LLC, Vo Dynasty, LLC, and individual Donald Lilly as defendants.

That’s about 13 million cubic feet of scrap. Ever pass one of those turbine blades on a truck? 3,000+ of them?

The state’s claims include:

• Failure to Recycle: Under Texas law, facilities must recycle at least 75% of accumulated material annually to avoid being classified as a waste disposal site. The state alleges Global never met this threshold since operations began in 2017.
• Violation of Prior Orders: Global signed an “Agreed Order” in 2022 promising to cease accepting waste and to obtain proper permits. Investigators claim the company ignored the order, accepted new shipments, and eventually abandoned the sites.Fox4News

As you can see by the leading pic – that’s a whole lot of scrap. Tell me again how “green” this is?

Category: Exploitation, Global Warming, None