How to recycle a 150-foot wind turbine blade? Haul it to Louisiana, Missouri

The wind energy industry is now facing a new challenge: what to do with old wind turbine blades when it’s time to replace them. The answer is found at a recycling plant in a historic Mississippi River town 90 miles north of St. Louis.
In the small community of Louisiana, Missouri, it’s not uncommon to see what looks like massive white wings traveling down the road, strapped to flatbed tractor-trailers.

Once a bustling commercial port, the historic Mississippi River town 90 miles north of St. Louis has become a hub for an unusual commodity: used wind turbine blades. Shipments from nearly every corner of the U.S. arrive daily at the Veolia North America recycling plant, the last stop for turbine blades at the end of their lifespan.

As she stood in the plant’s gravel parking lot on Monday, Rose Collard pointed to two sections of a 150-foot turbine blade from Massena, Iowa, weighing a combined 20,000 pounds. “This is one of the biggest blades that we get,” said Collard, an environmental health and safety specialist at the recycling facility.