Retired Wind Turbine Blades Are Used to Make… Edible Gummy Bears?

You are going to think that this is a joke.

But it's not.

The next generation of wind turbine blades could be recycled into gummy bears at the end of their service, scientists have said. (The Guardian).

There are many problems with wind and solar power that are not often discussed.

They are toxic to create and toxic to dispose of. They do a lot of harm to wildlife while they are in existence.

Then there is the problem of how to dispose of them.

Up until now wind turbine blades have simply been buried, in mass numbers.

Engineers have been working hard to find uses for those blades, rather than just loading them into landfills.

Still don't believe me? Watch the interview below.

According to The Guardian, researchers at Michigan State University have created an odd composite resin for the blades using a combination of glass fibers with a plant-derived polymer and a synthetic one.

With this new GOO, those used blades can be broken and used to create many new products including chewy sweets.

Yeah, Gummy Bears.

Care to sample a wind turbine blade?

Turbine blades have been a problem because they are made of fiberglass along with other materials to make them long and strong.

Some blades are half a football field in length and they need to be able to stand up to Wyoming's harsh winds.

Researchers are exploring a resin in an alkaline solution produced by potassium lactate, which can be purified and made into sweets and sports drinks.

“We recovered food-grade potassium lactate and used it to make gummy bear candies, which I ate,” said John Dorgan, one of the authors of the paper. (The Guardian).

The alkaline digestion also released poly(methyl methacrylate), or PMMA, a common acrylic material used in windows and car taillights.

Gee- sounds YUMMY?

A carbon atom derived from a plant, like corn or grass, is no different from a carbon atom that came from a fossil fuel. It’s all part of the global carbon cycle, and we’ve shown that we can go from biomass in the field to durable plastic materials and back to foodstuffs.

The problem now is what to do with the rest of the turbine system, and solar panel systems.

Rare Earth minerals are toxic to create and dispose of.

Probably not eatable.