Trek Bicycle has instituted a full-scale carbon recycling program at its Waterloo, WI-based US manufacturing facility and is now recycling all scrap carbon fiber; the material primarily used in its domestic production. The material that Trek introduced to the cycling world and has pioneered the usage of since 1992 is revered for its strength and weight properties but has long been believed nearly impossible to recycle.
Having seen pallets full of broken carbon frames destined for the landfill, this is good news. The waste stream in the bike industry is seldom addressed and they’ve made no real gains becoming green businesses because most of the manufacturing is in Asia.
We’d like to see photos or an indication of how much carbon Trek is recycling. Also see a challenge go out to the industry to match this effort.
What do you think? Meh?