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i appreciate that it's very good at doing lots of things including looking bling tastic.
what happens when it's old and in the bin? can it be broken down to it's constituent parts and recycled or is it a foul non recyclable waste of resources?
plus the manufacture of carbon hasn't been the best regulated in the past.......
[url= http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/trek_life/news/article/2694/2011/04/21/trek_implements_carbon_recycling_program/ ]trek recycling program[/url]
Scrap carbon fibre from production is normally recycled to be used in other products - you can't recycle it to be used again as there is no way to make new continuous fibres (why it is so strong).
Instead you reclaim the short cut fibres and then mill them to a shorter length up to mix into thermoplastics and construction materials. Dry material (from wet lay up) is simple to do but pre-preg is the most commonly used these days (fibres are coated in a semi cured resin so more control is possible) and pre-preg needs to have the resin removed by burning or acid treatment.
Recyling of end of life parts is not that common as it is not worth anyone setting up a 'carbon fibre bin' collection along with your plastic bottles and cardboard. Instead you should be able to contact the manufacturer for a suggestion as there may be some law about end of life recycling of products these days.
If you put it in the bin then it's not really any different from throwing away some plastic and some charcoal. The epoxy will eventually degrade and the carbon fibres are just that.
when some companies say they recycle they are often bending the truth slightly to gain an eco slant for their company ,some companies define recycling as taking the offcuts from one line and using the smaller less usable fabric in other smaller parts,quite how this is defined as recycling is not really accurate though it does improve efficiency.
Some use the shorter off cuts as a short chopped fibre filler material (though its still classed as long at 50mm )you normally see this in moulded parts which are smaller mouldings Rocker links spring to mind (trek use a product called hex mc) its not quite the same as moulding a product using what we would traditionally class as fabric or continuous fibre technology but the cynic in me thinks hexcel are making money from their leftovers , the continuous fibre technology has only really been properly implemented on certain frames recently though in F1 we are pretty sure its been round for a long time.
there are companies who do mill it down into powders to be used as fillers
the more interesting attempts to use chemicals to remove the epoxy from the fibre are often as un eco as just not having attempted it at all they are as equally if not more toxic to the environment but one company recently has produced a non toxic system that is still being trialled.Almost all the technologies that claim to recycle are
personally at the minute i think the bike makers are just selling the idea along with their product , work in the composites industry and you get to see the problem is becoming quite large as composites get used in
day to day objects however its fairly neutral stuff unless it catches fire and then unless they are the more exotic resin systems the byproducts are on the less scary end of the scale
cheers all, still can't justify one! thanks for the info though.
If you're looking to be Eco friendly then this concern, while of interest, is pretty immaterial compared to what can be easily achieved in day to day life.
Buy a carbon frame and plant a few trees or stop buying food in plastic packaging for a couple of months.
also, have you ever seen one of the mines they use at the start of making aluminium? they are horrifically destructive and polluting places.