Vision
Our vision on sustainability
The world increasingly scrutinises the impact products and services make on the environment throughout their entire life cycle. Both the demand for and supply of environmentally friendly products are on the increase. However, the most sustainable solution is not always the most obvious.
NPSP is searching for structural solutions to today’s environmental problems. We are convinced that, in the long term, the potential of composite as a sustainable material outweighs its current disadvantages.
Disadvantages
The composite sector still has a long way to go before it can truly be called sustainable. A yacht made of glass fibre polyester cannot be used for anything else after its service life is over. EU regulations prevent it from being dumped and incineration is a problem because the glass pollutes the furnaces.
Composite products must often meet exacting technical requirements: they must be light, strong, and able to withstand vandalism, chemicals and UV rays. This is why during production we strive for optimal adhesion between the components. However, this makes it difficult to separate them again at the end of their service life. So it is still technically complicated and expensive to recycle composite.
Potential
Composite offers a wealth of new opportunities for the environment. Take the transport industry: trains and buses with composite components are just as strong as their predecessors, even though much less material is needed to produce them. Fibre reinforced ‘plastic’ vehicles are not only cheaper, but also lighter. This reduces both fuel consumption and CO2 emissions per kilometre.
NPSP wants to utilise the potential benefits of composite to the maximum. We are working one step at a time on structural solutions that will make it possible to use sustainable composites on a large scale.
NPSP is searching for structural solutions to today’s environmental problems. We are convinced that, in the long term, the potential of composite as a sustainable material outweighs its current disadvantages.
Disadvantages
The composite sector still has a long way to go before it can truly be called sustainable. A yacht made of glass fibre polyester cannot be used for anything else after its service life is over. EU regulations prevent it from being dumped and incineration is a problem because the glass pollutes the furnaces.
Composite products must often meet exacting technical requirements: they must be light, strong, and able to withstand vandalism, chemicals and UV rays. This is why during production we strive for optimal adhesion between the components. However, this makes it difficult to separate them again at the end of their service life. So it is still technically complicated and expensive to recycle composite.
Potential
Composite offers a wealth of new opportunities for the environment. Take the transport industry: trains and buses with composite components are just as strong as their predecessors, even though much less material is needed to produce them. Fibre reinforced ‘plastic’ vehicles are not only cheaper, but also lighter. This reduces both fuel consumption and CO2 emissions per kilometre.
NPSP wants to utilise the potential benefits of composite to the maximum. We are working one step at a time on structural solutions that will make it possible to use sustainable composites on a large scale.
Küppersweg 31 | 2031 EA Haarlem | The Netherlands | +31 (0)23 55 123 28 | info@npsp.nl