#205 Afterwind, Afterlife: How Julia Minici Wants to Make Composites Truly Circular
09.02.2026 22 min Staffel 5 Episode 163
Zusammenfassung & Show Notes
How do we move from pilot projects to true circularity in composites — at industrial scale?
In this full #Composites360onTour interview, Ilkay Özkisaoglu speaks with Julia Minici,
Co‑Founder & Chairperson of Afterwind, directly after the first General Assembly of the European Circular Composites Alliance (ECCA) in Brussels, organised by EuCIA.
Afterwind is tackling one of the biggest sustainability challenges in advanced materials:
👉 *what happens to composite products at the end of their life — especially wind turbine blades?
Julia explains Afterwind’s approach to true recycling of glass‑fibre composites, why consistent quality at scale is the missing link for circularity, and how recycling solutions developed for wind can be transferred to construction, automotive and boating.
🔍 Topics covered in this interview:
• What “true recycling” really means — beyond landfill and incineration
• Mechanical vs. chemical recycling and current technology readiness levels
• Why scaling secondary raw materials is essential for manufacturers
• The real challenges of recycling 66‑metre wind turbine blades
• How Afterwind builds stable, cross‑industry feedstock streams
• Why the boating industry is a critical next frontier — and why it’s complex
• Julia’s role as Chair of two ECCA Working Groups (Industrial & Recreational, Construction)
• Why ECCA is not just an initiative — but a movement for European industry
• From collaboration to responsibility: how circularity actually gets implemented
About the context
This conversation was recorded during the **European Circular Composites Alliance (ECCA) General Assembly in Brussels — a milestone event bringing together industry, policymakers and innovators to shape a circular future for composite materials in Europe.
Composites Lounge is a proud supporter of the ECCA movement, and this interview is part of our ongoing effort to highlight people who turn **vision into industrial action**.
YouTube Episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJq-16E8Je0
In this full #Composites360onTour interview, Ilkay Özkisaoglu speaks with Julia Minici,
Co‑Founder & Chairperson of Afterwind, directly after the first General Assembly of the European Circular Composites Alliance (ECCA) in Brussels, organised by EuCIA.
Afterwind is tackling one of the biggest sustainability challenges in advanced materials:
👉 *what happens to composite products at the end of their life — especially wind turbine blades?
Julia explains Afterwind’s approach to true recycling of glass‑fibre composites, why consistent quality at scale is the missing link for circularity, and how recycling solutions developed for wind can be transferred to construction, automotive and boating.
🔍 Topics covered in this interview:
• What “true recycling” really means — beyond landfill and incineration
• Mechanical vs. chemical recycling and current technology readiness levels
• Why scaling secondary raw materials is essential for manufacturers
• The real challenges of recycling 66‑metre wind turbine blades
• How Afterwind builds stable, cross‑industry feedstock streams
• Why the boating industry is a critical next frontier — and why it’s complex
• Julia’s role as Chair of two ECCA Working Groups (Industrial & Recreational, Construction)
• Why ECCA is not just an initiative — but a movement for European industry
• From collaboration to responsibility: how circularity actually gets implemented
About the context
This conversation was recorded during the **European Circular Composites Alliance (ECCA) General Assembly in Brussels — a milestone event bringing together industry, policymakers and innovators to shape a circular future for composite materials in Europe.
Composites Lounge is a proud supporter of the ECCA movement, and this interview is part of our ongoing effort to highlight people who turn **vision into industrial action**.
YouTube Episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJq-16E8Je0
Transkript
So wonderful good evening
dear LinkedIn community
Composites Lounge members
EuCIA members, ECCA signatories.
This is the final part
of the European Circular Composites
Alliance General Assembly,
and together with me now is Julia Minicih.
And she is from Italy, Germany
and Sweden. And she will explain you
now how that came.
And the reason why I asked her now
on an interview
is because we are talking
recycling all day
and the circular economy and Afterwind
the name says it all
has a solution for that,
but not only for wind
but also for other areas.
So we will dive into this just
after this short break.
So Julia for our community.
Who doesn't know you yet so far.
You have been to my livestream already,
but let's dive a bit now deeper.
What is your role?
What is your company with?
And what's the brand promise
of your company?
Thank you very much.
And thank you for having me again.
I guess so, yes.
As you were saying, I define myself
European. I represent
many different countries proudly.
I'm very proud to be European.
I am a co-founder of Afterwind.
Afterwind is two years old.
We are a Swedish based recycling company.
And what we do is true recycling
of glass fibre composite,
where "true" is the word
that matters for us.
And what it means
is we valorize the material.
We aim not to landfill,
we aim not to incinerate.
What we want to do is recover value
from the raw material that we get.
We started with wind
because that's where our customers
asked us to go.
We are new to the Composites space,
but we're not new to recycling.
We have over 40 years of experience
of recycling in different sectors,
starting with plastic, going into tires
and then now moving into composites.
So we were asked to come
and help from our customers.
We thought we had the right technology
set up knowhow,
and so we took on the challenge
and we said,
we're going to come over and help.
My brand promise
consistent quality at scale.
I think that's what the customers
ask us over and over again.
I think in order to make a change,
you need to provide
a sustainable feed stream
of secondary raw material
back into the industry,
which today doesn't happen.
It happens in pockets,
but it doesn't happen at scale
or at a place in where the manufacturers
feel comfortable,
maybe changing
slightly their production process
to accept recycled fibres.
-So let's dive a bit deeper now
in the technology.
So there is a pain point.
And I can fully understand
the wind industry right
now a lot of these blades
we've seen in that picture
are landfilled all the time.
And rather than landfilling them,
it would be a good idea to recycle them
or put them
into a different application
in the future.
So what technology would you now propose
to the wind industry?
So we start our value proposition
the other way around.
So the way that we're doing it
is we look at
who wants to use the material
and what are their requirements.
And then we try to map
the right technology to that.
We have two primary technologies
and then a third one
that we use when needed.
But we do mechanical recycling.
And to the extent possible
we would like to do only that.
We know that it doesn't meet
all the requirements,
but we think is the most sustainable
and the most scalable solution
at this point
where mechanical recycling runs short,
we're developing a serverless solution,
so we have a whole chemical
department team that is looking
at how do we further clean the fibers
in order to reintegrate them where needed.
And again, we don't want to do it
on all the material,
but only on the material.
The clients require
a certain level of readiness.
And for everything
that we don't know how to valorize,
which is by far our main goal,
we classify it.
And so we turn it into energy,
which I know is controversial,
but we have a zero waste policy
and we prefer to do that rather
than wasting the materials.
-Where is your technology readiness level
from 0 to 10.
Are you already in a standard quality
production like eight, nine, ten?
Or is it still in the development phase?
It depends on which technology,
but the mechanical one
we classify ourselves as seven
and the chemical recycling one
we classify ourselves for going into five.
-Okay, the one is rather in the beginning
and in the concept stage,
and the other one
is already really market fit.
You could say,
what is the situation
at the wind industry?
I'm getting mixed responses.
Do we really need to look
after the wind industry
here in Europe at all?
I mean, this morning we heard,
for example,
in the United States wind is wiped off.
They don't want to deal with wind.
Will that happen also in Europe?
What's the stage right now?
I mean, I hope not, like I,
you know, I'm not in a position to talk
about what's going to happen
to the wind industry,
but, what I know
from the back end of the wind industry
is that they're held to very
high, sustainable standards,
and I think they're doing
the best they can to meet those standards
and overachieve on those standards.
So from my perspective,
that's where the industry is at.
I was just saying to a gentleman,
we just received
our first full blade last week.
It's the first time we're doing it.
It is a 66 meter blade.
Okay. And it is quite a.
-It's quite long.
Yeah. It's an endeavour
like it's a logistical nightmare.
But also when you see it
it's beautiful in the product.
I was just the other day in Dresden
at IMA Applus
they have also a similar blade installed.
They have a machine on this
that is basically
vibrating the blade also.
But they do testing by testing so that.
So okay, I play Advocate's Devil
or the Devil of advocate Advocate's devil
say okay, wind is over.
So what are you going to do
with your technology then?
No, don't listen to him.
Wind is not over.
No, but I mean, the reality is
that wind is only a fraction
of the composite industry.
And so there's different numbers.
The one that I use is wind waste
is about 11%
of the total composite byproduct end
of life material that there is.
So the technology is transferable.
We don't really have any ties
to a specific product
or a specific industry.
I think the core is
what I said at the before.
So consistent quality,
stable material and feed stream.
So no matter what we do,
it has to be in the big numbers
or in numbers that are interesting.
And so that's been our strategy.
We've been building up our feedstock.
And so our warehouse is now full
of different materials.
And so now the goal is
which batches go together and to whom.
But we've got construction
and we've got automotive as well,
in addition to wind as industries
that we tap into today.
-And what about the boating industry?
The boating industry
is an interesting one.
I mean, so far
I think boating is difficult.
And we've heard this morning,
for those of you that weren't here,
there's been a lot of discussions
around what we do with boat
and how do we define a boat
and which boat?
Recreational boat versus commercial boats.
And how do we do the work?
So there's lots of work to be done there,
but lots of focus.
I'll be actually in, in Dusseldorf
at the European boating conference,
speaking together with Raphael,
who is the managing director of UK,
to talk about sustainability
(on the Blue Innovation Dock Stage).
So how do we take what we've learned
from other industry
and bring it into the boating industry?
-There again, I think is a big future.
You know, about the the ghost boats
that are there
without any owner
just sitting somewhere in the harbour.
Nobody cares about them.
Those need to be recycled in future.
I see they're a big opportunity
for you guys.
There definitely is a big opportunity.
I think the challenge that I see
that we need to solve
is how do we collect them
and where do we bring them.
And so the whole upstream portion of it
is something that we need to
that we need to solve.
And in all fairness, I can talk
to the material.
So what has happened to the material
after they've been in water
for 50 years, right.
And what's the quality of that?
So that's our challenge.
-So dear community.
Julia was saying this presentation
this morning.
This presentation this morning
was from an European Commission officer
from DG, the Directorate General Marine.
And this presentation will be soon also
streamed here live on tape on LinkedIn.
So you can also watch it.
And I have shown you
some footages of that.
Right. So we've talked about Afterwind.
We've talked about you.
Now we are here in Brussels
in the European capital.
We have this nice flag here,
the European flag.
Now tell me, Julia,
you've signed the ECCA,
the European Circular Composites Alliance.
Yes. And what is your intention?
What is your hope, maybe.
Or what do you trust on with the alliance?
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So I mean, I signed it
and I also volunteered
to chair a couple of working groups.
To me, this is the be all and end all.
I don't know if you can say it that way,
but to me, this is the North Star.
It's the vision is the drive.
I think, you know,
you've heard me say this before,
but for the guys on the that
that are listening in right now,
I think this room today was incredible.
And it just strengthened my drive
and my focus.
I want to do something.
I want to play my part.
And I know that I'm the last camera
and I'm the little one,
but I think everybody has a role to play,
and everybody has to take on
their own responsibility
and their own ownership
to drive towards a common goal.
And I think ECCA gave us the vision,
the platform, the space to do that,
and it's on us to take it
and drive this forward.
-Absolutely. I've called this a movement.
Yes. That's what we discussed
also the last time.
I love that word.
It is a movement.
It is a group of volunteers, the movement.
-So we are like minded in that case
because this is a once,
at least in my 30 plus years in Composites
that we have a movement like this.
And also for me, this is the reason
why I signed the ECCA letter.
So you were surprised
about the number of attendants today?
So you said the energy
and the crowd here was cool?
-Yes. The number of attendants.
And I think not one person
has questioned today
if this is a good idea,
like the fact that it's a given,
it is a good idea.
And so it's about how do we do it
and how do we implement it.
I think that is incredible.
It's it's a win.
There's only believers in this room
and from every side of the industry.
Right? I mean, if we were color coded
and I had a hard time
remembering what color was aligned
to which group because there were so many.
-But we have to say, dear community,
like you mentioned before,
you have several working groups.
You are chairing several working groups.
But what I found super cool
is that you have left the voices
also to the vice chairs.
So you did not speak to everyone
at every stage.
So if I can, I have a belief
that is like something like this
only works if it's a group effort, right?
You can have one person empowering
and taking the voice, but it's not gonna.
-Absolutely. Let's run very quickly
because we're coming
towards the end of this, this video.
Let's run quickly to your working groups.
You got one, two, three, two, two.
Yeah. Let's run through them.
What's the purpose of the group?
Number of group members
and what have you decided so far?
Yes. So I run two working groups,
the industrial and recreational
working groups
and the construction working groups.
And they are on two opposite sides
of the spectrum.
So industrial and recreational
has 78 members.
Okay. Thats a number
So you can imagine that it's.
A full ECCA he said today is 185.
So roughly half of it is in your group.
Joining the working group
at some point or another.
We're chairing, two working groups
for the Industrial
and Recreational Working Group
and the Construction Working Group,
and they are on two different sides
of the spectrum.
So the Industrial Recreational
Working group,
they have 78 members
and they cover pretty much every role.
But of course, industrial, raw material
and composite manufacturers
take the lead in that group. And I thought
it was going to be a shy group,
but it is really not.
Very engaging, very interactive.
So as a chair, I measure my success in,
you know, not speaking so much,
but letting the group talk.
So it makes it the hard to moderate
and sometimes bring it back to the point.
But I think we got there.
The mission of that group
is really to think
across industry recycling.
So they have started from a point.
Let's challenge the definition
of closed loop.
And even though we believe
that that might be
the right long term goal.
There are roadblocks that we need to solve
before we are able to get there.
So what's the road to get there?
That's their goal.
They've identified sub working groups
and they are flying
like they are owning themselves.
They're owning their work
and they're all set up for,
you know, getting it done in 2026.
The construction working group
is the smallest working group overall.
There is about 15 participants,
but they are all very vocal,
as well in their, in their approach.
We've gone a whole other approach
with them and they have actually told us
what's their vision for 2035.
And if you read The Dreams of the people,
I think you can be proud.
It is about valorization.
Practically no waste
leading circularity globally
and there's very ambitious target
that we want to give ourselves.
Now, the challenge for composite
and construction
is working backwards from that vision,
taking on one issue after the next.
Composite and construction
has low penetration.
So how do we make composite
as important as steel?
So the construction site is the smallest.
We have the issue
with the construction that you need
a lot of homologation approvals.
And these are very heavy investments.
Today in Germany, for example,
composites are not a construction material
that are free to use.
But on the other side,
there are associations
and there are manufacturers
who took really a lot of money
to get the homologation.
So we will see in the near future
the construction industry picking up
very sharply on composite materials.
So right now, Yes, 15.
Maybe not a big number,
but that has probably the potential
even to be
the biggest one in the near future.
-Yes. I couldn't agree more.
And we have a specialist, Eric Messner.
He is all advocating about end codes
for Composites and construction.
Well, he has our support.
Good. So dear community.
You see, the ECCA is living
from a working group. With Julia,
we have someone who has
even two working groups.
Managing them.
And you have a leadership role here.
And you make a great job
in keeping them involved
and motivated to work with you guys.
So for next year,
what would be your plan for next year?
So you mentioned you have this panel
at the boat show in Dusseldorf
(22nd January 2026),
anything else you have on your plan?
So if we stay in the ECCA environment,
for me today
was about making ECCA sustainable.
And so I'm committed to right along
with the journey and give my time to this
and keep driving the working groups
as needed for the next period.
We gave ourselves target 2030, 2035.
And so I'm only getting that done.
-So I keep fingers crossed
that the wind industry
will still play a major role.
You see, I'm not that big of a wind fan.
I'm an industrial man.
I have to tell my community
knows automotive, aerospace, boating,
everything that is in transport is mine.
-I am cheering for me.
We are cheering for you.
Uh, there's for everyone.
Is a is a part of the of the market there?
Julia, thank you so much
for being part of my show.
And I wish you all the best
and all the success.
-Thank you very much for having me.
And thank you, everyone.