Composite Recycling

The story ofCompositeRecyclingstarted in 2020. Pascal and I have known each other for years, as our sons are classmates in our village school.

At a birthday party where both were invited, we got chatting about work. Pascal is a scientist and knows a lot about composites and pyrolysis. I have always been passionate about boats – we have a family boat in the south of France. I also have a lot of personal connections in the world of boating and composites.

Since Pascal loves sailing too, I told him about the mounting crisis posed by end-of-life boats, which up to now have not been recyclable. But he told me there was a scientific solution. I knew the problem, and he knew the solution! So we decided to work together.

Pascal works closely with the EPFL, and the director of the Laboratory for Advanced Composites there was immediately interested. We got to work and started testing our process with pieces from actual discarded boat hulls. We were able to clean the fibres, and then combine them with new resin in the shipyard to make new composites. It all worked – and even better than we’d ever imagined. We had found the way to close the loop on boat recycling.

We knew we would need some help further developing our technology. We met with Mitchell who had connections to Pascal from his time as a research scientist at EPFL. Mitchell is passionate about cleantech solutions, had an entrepreneurial background, and felt an immediate connection to our story, having grown up sailing in Canada and the Caribbean. It was clear he would be a great addition, so we happily welcomed Mitchell into the founding team.