Acciona Energía, El Ganso develop shoes made with recycled wind blade materials

Photo Credit: Accoina Energía, El Ganso

Global energy company Acciona Energía (Alcobendas, Spain) and El Ganso (Madrid, Spain) have announced a new sneaker featuring materials from recycled wind turbine blades.

Named “El Ganso x Acciona,” the soles of the limited-edition line of shoes have been manufactured using materials from dismantled wind turbine blades that have undergone a micronizing process. This technique consists of reducing the size of fiberglass and epoxy resins to microns, through an advanced mechanical transformation process. The resulting powder is combined with rubber to obtain a sole that maintains the strength, grip and durability of conventional shoes.

The shoes were manufactured using a 23-meter-long blade from the Aibar Wind Farm in Navarra, which has been operating since 1998. During its operational lifetime, the blade captured wind used to generate 12,500 megwatt-hours of clean energy, which avoided the emission of 5,461 tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere, equivalent to the purifying effect of 4,160 trees.

The “El Ganso x Acciona” model features an exclusive design that includes the brands of both companies and a reference to the origin of the recycled material used to make the sole, reflecting the commitment of both companies to sustainability, circularity and innovation.

The companies note that in Spain alone, an estimated 20,000 blades will need to be recycled in the near future. Acciona Energía is carrying out a wind turbine blade recycling projects such as this one and, additionally, it has recently announced the construction of Waste2Fiber, an industrial-scale wind blade recycling plant in Lumbier (Navarra).

Meanwhile, El Ganso continues advancing with this initiative in its commitment to sustainability, reflected in the use of materials of sustainable origin in the manufacture of more than 80% of its collection, with the aim of reaching 100% in the near future. This shoe collection is available through El Ganso’s official website and at its stores.