All the products TPI manufactures are based on customer designs and specifications. Once finished blades leave TPI facilities, our customers install them on wind turbines. At the end of their life, disposal of TPI manufactured parts remains the responsibility of our customers. As a manufactur, we recognize that while we may not oversee the final disposal of our products, it is still our responsibility to properly manage our material usage and waste production. We are committed to doing our part to increase material efficiency and recyclability, while continuing to pursue partnerships with industry consortia, OEMs, and academia on the circularity of wind blades.
Raw materials are the key cost driver of the products we manufacture. We aim to use our materials as efficiently as we can while still meeting the expectations and requirements of our customers. Our products are generally custom designed and built to the specifications of our customers. We currently track the materials used in our manufacturing processes through our product lifecycle management system and enterprise resource planning system. In addition, all facilities have chemical and hazardous waste management systems in accordance with laws and regulations in their respective regions.
Wind turbines are 85% to 90% recyclable, with the wind blade material constituting the remaining percentage that cannot be easily recycled, due to the nature of thermoset composites.1 Wind composite industry leaders, such as TPI, are focused on closing this recycling gap in order to reduce landfilling of wind energy waste. TPI is actively working toward creating sustainable end-of-life solutions by developing alternative uses for composite products reaching their end-of-life. We have led numerous projects to convert decommissioned wind blades into a variety of alternate uses including concrete products, cured-in-place pipe liners, recycled fiberglass yarns, construction panels, and structural flooring applications.
In addition to repurposing end-of-life composite products, TPI is working closely with industry and academic leaders to develop and implement solutions to enable circularity for thermoset composites. These solutions will allow for the recovery of high-quality composite materials such as glass fiber, carbon fiber, and core which can be reused in building wind blades, and other thermoset composite products such as electric vehicles.
We remain highly engaged in global efforts to reduce waste and carbon emissions from our manufacturing operations and pursuing available pathways for reusing as much of the waste we generate as possible.
Mitigating and managing waste generated from production is a key objective for TPI. Our facilities manage the waste generated in compliance with local regulations. Our waste data is collected monthly using invoices from disposal facilities and haulers. All waste data is verified by on-site EHS supervisors and through annual audits conducted at our ISO 14001 certified facilities. These processes allow TPI to understand the volume and cost of waste produced to ensure waste reduction remains a priority.
We have waste continuous improvement teams at each location, which completed waste stream analyses and developed waste reduction projects.
In a continuation of our program, in 2025, we achieved our waste rate reduction goal (five percent reduction for sites without new blade model implementations during the year) by focusing our projects on optimizing direct material usage. In the coming years, our focus is to encourage all sites to adopt alternative waste disposal methods instead of relying on landfilling.
