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Scotland's first commercial wind farm recycled 99.9% of its decommissioned turbines

Scotland's first commercial wind farm recycled 99.9% of its decommissioned turbines

Built World

Repowered Hagshaw Hill now puts out five times more power from 14 turbines instead of 26

September 9th, 2026: 99.9% recycling rate circulates widely

Overview

Updated Sep 10

ScottishPower says 99.9% of the materials from Scotland's first commercial wind farm were recycled or reused when it was decommissioned. The 26 turbines at Hagshaw Hill in South Lanarkshire, turning since 1995, came down in 2023 and were replaced by 14 larger machines.

An independent report by engineering firm Mott MacDonald found 79.5% of materials were recycled and 20.4% reused. Even the composite blades—historically wind's hardest waste problem—were shredded and granulated into construction polymer by Northern Ireland's Plaswire, which substitutes for concrete, timber, and virgin plastics.

Why it matters

If this recycling rate scales across the UK's aging wind fleet, blade waste stops being a reason to delay repowering or building new capacity.

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Key Indicators

99.9%
Combined recycling and reuse rate
79.5% recycled, 20.4% reused across 26 decommissioned turbines, per Mott MacDonald.
26
Turbines decommissioned
Original 600 kW machines, operational since 1995, removed in 2023.
14
Replacement turbines
Repowered farm generates 79 MW, five times the old output.
657
Materials in EMR case study
24-turbine subset reported at 97% recycled in a late-2024 industry presentation.
57,000
Homes powered by repowered farm
Community benefit fund now about £400,000 a year, 26 times the old level.

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People Involved

AB
Andrew Billingsley
Chief executive, Plaswire
Leading the firm that recycled all of Hagshaw Hill's blades

Organizations Involved

ScottishPower Renewables
ScottishPower Renewables
Renewable energy developer
Owner and operator of Hagshaw Hill; source of the 99.9% claim

Iberdrola's UK renewables division, which built, decommissioned, and repowered Hagshaw Hill.
Plaswire
Plaswire
Polymer recycler
Recycled all Hagshaw Hill blades into construction material

Northern Ireland recycler that converts turbine blades into RX Polymer for construction.
Mott MacDonald
Mott MacDonald
Engineering consultancy
Compiled the independent decommissioning report

Engineering, management, and development consultancy that audited the Hagshaw decommissioning.
Iberdrola
Iberdrola
Utility
Parent company of ScottishPower Renewables

Spanish utility that owns ScottishPower and its renewables division.

Timeline

1995 September 2026

7 events Latest: September 9th, 2026 · 2 months ago
Tap a bar to jump to that date

  1. 99.9% recycling rate circulates widely

    Latest Announcement

    The result spreads as a rebuttal to wind's blade-waste criticism, topping Reddit's uplifting news.

  2. Circular Online reports 99.9% figure

    Report

    Trades outlet notes the Mott MacDonald report has not been publicly released and details are thin.

  3. Repowering completed

    Milestone

    14 new turbines come online, generating 79 MW—five times the original output.

  4. EMR presents recycling case study

    Report

    European Metal Recycling describes a 24-turbine, 657-tonne subset at 97% recycled and 3% reused.

  5. Original turbines dismantled

    Decommissioning

    All 26 aging machines are removed to make way for repowering.

  6. Twenty additional turbines added

    Expansion

    The site grows beyond its original 26 machines.

  7. Hagshaw Hill opens as Scotland's first commercial wind farm

    Milestone

    26 turbines, each rated 600 kW, begin generating a combined 15.6 MW.

Scenarios

1

ScottishPower publishes full decommissioning report, figures confirmed

Likely Resolves by Mar 1, 2027

Discussed by: Circular Online and industry commentators

Pressure from Circular Online and others could push ScottishPower to release the Mott MacDonald report in full, with material tonnage, inventory, and calculation method. Publication would settle whether foundations, concrete, and cabling are included in the 99.9% figure.

2

Blade recycling scales across Europe's wind fleet

Possible Resolves by Q2 2028

Discussed by: UK Onshore Wind Taskforce strategy, Plaswire

Plaswire's approval to process non-UK blades, plus a forecast decommissioning peak from the late 2020s through the 2030s, could turn blade recycling from pilot into standard practice. Multiple commercial facilities and routine contracts would mark the shift.

3

99.9% figure revised after methodology questions

Possible Resolves by Sep 1, 2027

Discussed by: Circular Online, Whole Life Carbon

If the published report excludes foundations and concrete—the dominant onshore-wind material by mass—the headline rate could drop when those are added. A July 2026 government-commissioned study noted concrete dominates when foundations are included.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

2020

Casper, Wyoming blade landfill (2020)

Thousands of decommissioned turbine blades were buried in a landfill near Casper, Wyoming. Photos of the blade pit became the global symbol of wind's waste problem.

Then

The images fueled criticism that wind turbines cannot be recycled.

Now

The attention pushed manufacturers to announce blade-recycling goals and researchers to develop composite-recovery methods.

Why this matters now

Hagshaw Hill offers a working counterexample: a full farm decommissioned with blades converted into construction polymer, not buried.

2023

Ørsted-Plaswire blade recycling pilot (2023)

Danish offshore wind giant Ørsted piloted Plaswire's process, cleaning, shredding, and granulating blades into RX Polymer for construction products.

Then

The pilot validated the polymer route and led to commercial contracts, including Hagshaw Hill.

Now

It established a template for blade recycling that other farm operators could adopt in repowering.

Why this matters now

Hagshaw Hill is the first full-farm application of the process Ørsted helped prove out.

2000

EU End-of-Life Vehicles Directive (2000)

European law required automakers to take back and recycle cars, mandating rising recovery rates and banning landfilling of shredder residue.

Then

Recycling rates climbed above 80% and a dedicated infrastructure of dismantlers and shredders emerged.

Now

The directive built a self-sustaining recycling industry for a complex product class.

Why this matters now

It shows how regulation, not just economics, can scale recycling for hard-to-process products—a potential parallel for wind blades.

Sources

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Reddit r/UpliftingNews RenewEconomy ScottishPower Renewables Circular Online Whole Life Carbon The Good Press Inspenet The Energy Data Pecos Operating RenewEconomy