Industry leaders have joined forces to revolutionize boat manufacturing with a circular economy model, so that boats can now be built using recycled materials. This pioneering collaboration to achieve circularity in boat production, launched in Western France, offers a model for composite sustainability.
This breakthrough initiative unites various global leaders in their field:
- Groupe Beneteau, world’s leading manufacturer of sailing and motorboats.
- Veolia, global leader in waste management and environmental services.
- Composite Recycling, pioneer in recycling composite waste.
- Arkema, a world player in specialty materials.
- Owens Corning, pioneer in glass reinforcements innovation.
- Chomarat, specialist in technical textiles and composite reinforcements.
A sustainable future for composite manufacturing
For sailors and boat enthusiasts, this initiative lays the groundwork for a sustainable future, with boats built from recycled materials to reduce the sport’s environmental impact.
Beyond the marine industry, this collaboration demonstrates how circular manufacturing can be applied across industries reliant on composites, including automotive, aerospace, wind energy, and construction. By diverting waste from landfills and conserving resources, this effort sets a high standard for composite sustainability as the industry works to reduce CO2 emissions.
Closing the loop
This collaboration establishes a new benchmark for circular manufacturing in the nautical industry:
- Production: Groupe Beneteau incorporates recyclable composite materials, including Arkema's Elium® resin, into boat manufacturing.
- Waste Collection: Veolia gathers composite production scraps and brings them to their site in Western France for recycling.
- Recycling: Composite Recycling uses its next generation thermolysis technology to separate and recycle the scraps into reclaimed glass fibers and thermolysis oil.
- Reintegration: Arkema transforms the thermolysis oil into new Elium® resin, while Owens Corning produces new glass fibers and Chomarat produces new fiberglass reinforcements.
- Reuse: Groupe Beneteau incorporates the recycled Elium® resin and fiberglass into the manufacture of new boats, closing the loop.
“Sailing has always been a part of my life, so I’m especially proud that the first application of our industrial unit is within the marine industry,” said Guillaume Perben, co-Founder of Composite Recycling. “But this isn’t just about sustainable boatbuilding—it’s a proof of concept for every industry that uses composites.”
“Elium® resin was designed to make composites recyclable, and this initiative showcases how it works at scale,” said Guillaume Cledat, Arkema Global Business Manager. “By combining Elium® resin with innovative recycling technologies, we’re laying the foundation for a circular economy in composites.”
“This collective approach is a decisive step in our commitment to accessible and sustainable boating. Our Jeanneau Sun Fast 30 One Design models and, more recently, Beneteau Oceanis Yacht 60 perfectly illustrate that circular manufacturing in the nautical sector is no longer a simple goal, but a tangible reality," says Erwan Faoucher, Vice President Innovation & Sustainable Development of Groupe Beneteau. "Once again in our history, we are showing audacity. The use of recycled resin reduces CO2 emissions by 70% compared to conventional polyester from the market. Whereas in the past we made boats that were built to last, today we are able to design sustainable boats."
“Transforming glass waste into circular content is a key element of Owens Corning’s sustainability strategy, and our competitive advantage in the composites industry,” said Chris Skinner, Vice President of Glass Reinforcements Strategic Marketing and R&D at Owens Corning. “This project provides a powerful demonstration of how we are unlocking our ability to achieve circularity for our customers, our industry, and the world we share.”
“At Veolia, we are always working to develop innovative and sustainable solutions through industrial collaborations,” said Marie Glorennec, Head of Innovation at Veolia Recyclage et Valorisaiton des Déchets Centre-Ouest. “Thanks to these new advances in recycling technology, we’re proud to be able to provide our clients with better waste treatment alternatives that drive circularity in the composites industry.”
“Chomarat is committed to advancing composite sustainability while maintaining the highest standards of performance,” said Vincent Cholvy, Head of Glass Composites at Chomarat. “This project showcases how recycled fibers can be seamlessly reintegrated into new high-quality materials, helping industries move toward circularity.”
"We have entered a new era where products are made recyclable by design, and this powerful collaboration is a prime example. Working alongside such large and visionary partners is a huge opportunity for us,” said Dr. Pascal Gallo, co-Founder of Composite Recycling. “It feels like we are standing on the shoulders of giants and makes the scale-up journey of Composite Recycling faster and more impactful. Together, we're leading the way towards a circular economy for composites."
With its unique expertise in materials science, Arkema has a top-tier portfolio of technologies to meet the growing demand for new and sustainable materials. Aiming to become a pure player in Specialty Materials, Arkema is now structured around three complementary, resilient, and highly innovative segments—Adhesives, Advanced Materials, and Coating Solutions—which accounted for 92% of the Group’s revenue in 2023, along with a competitive and well-positioned Intermediates segment.
Arkema provides cutting-edge technological solutions to address key challenges in renewable energy, water access, recycling, urbanization, and mobility, while maintaining an ongoing dialogue with all its stakeholders. The Group generated approximately €9.5 billion in revenue in 2023 and operates in nearly 55 countries with 21,100 employees.
Founded in 2021 and based in Switzerland, Composite Recycling is a pioneering company dedicated to diverting composite waste from landfills and into high-value new production. The company’s proprietary, patent-pending thermolysis-based recycling process reclaims valuable outputs, including intact glass and carbon fibers, as well as pyrolysis oil. This innovative approach enables industries such as boat manufacturing, wind energy, automotive, and construction to achieve a truly circular economy.
Composite Recycling recently launched its first industrial pilot unit in France and is now focused on scaling its recycling solution across Europe and globally. With numerous industry awards and a client base spanning Europe and the US, Composite Recycling is shaping the future of sustainability in the composites industry.
Established in 1898, Chomarat is a French industrial group. Faithful to its roots in the textiles industry, the Chomarat Group has developed a wide array of “know-how” based on strong human skills and the mastery of complex technologies. The company operates in France, Tunisia, the United States, and China and employs 1,100 people. The group is organized in four strategic business units: Composite Reinforcements, Construction Reinforcements, Coatings & Films and Garment manufacturing. It serves a variety of markets such as: automotive, sports & leisure, energy, marine, construction and luxury goods.
For composites manufacturing, CHOMARAT provides a large spectrum of technical reinforcements (woven, multi-axial fabrics and complex with glass, aramid or carbon fibers). Looking to the future, the Chomarat Group aims to engage in responsible development in harmony with its roots, its values and the environment. These commitments are reflected in its investments, its products and in the relationships established with each of its partners.
Founded in Vendée 140 years ago by Benjamin Bénéteau, Groupe Beneteau is today a world leader in the boating industry. With an international industrial presence spanning 16 production sites and a worldwide commercial network, the Group generated revenue of €1 billion in 2024 and has a workforce of nearly 7000 employees mainly in France, United States, Poland, Italy, Portugal, and Tunisia.
True to its mission – Bringing dreams to water – Groupe Beneteau designs and builds boats and services to make every experience on the water truly unique. Through its nine brands, its Boat division offers more than 135 boat models craft to meet the diverse needs and sailing projects of its customers, whether sailing or motoring, monohull or catamaran . Through its Boating Solutions division, the Groupe Beneteau is also involved in services covering daily or weekly boat hire, marinas, the digital sector and financing.
Owens Corning is a residential and commercial building products leader committed to building a sustainable future through material innovation. We provide durable, sustainable, energy-efficient solutions that leverage our unique material science, manufacturing, and market knowledge to help our customers win and grow. We are global in scope, human in scale, and dedicated to generating value for our customers and shareholders and making a difference in the communities where we work and live.
Veolia's ambition is to become the benchmark company for ecological transformation. With nearly 218,000 employees on five continents, the Group designs and deploys useful, practical solutions for managing water, waste and energy that help to radically change the world. Through its three complementary activities, Veolia contributes to developing access to resources, preserving available resources and renewing them.
In 2023, the Veolia group served 113 million people with drinking water and 103 million with wastewater services, produced 42 terawatt-hours of energy and recovered 63 million metric tons of waste. Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE) generated consolidated sales of €45.3 billion in 2023.