Washington lawmakers have introduced a bill to require a study on disposing and recycling blades from wind turbines.

Senate Bill 5287, which calls for such a study by the Washington State University Extension Energy Program to be turned in to the legislature by Dec. 1, drew no opponents during a hearing before the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee on Friday.

Three people testified in favor of the bill, while another 29 signed up in favor but did not testify. No one signed up in opposition. The bill has co-sponsors from both parties.

“There is currently not any facility in the United States that recycles wind turbine blades. … We think this will be someday mandatory in the future,” Jeff Gombosky, a lobbyist speaking on behalf of Renewables Northwest, told the committee.

“We need to be concerned with the total life cycle infrastructure,” said Ann Murphy, representing the League of Women Voters.

The average lifespan of a wind turbine blade is 20 years, said a Senate committee memo. The average length of a blade is 170 feet. Washington’s wind turbines produce 3,400 MW of power. 

“Landfilling these giants is not green nor sustainable,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jeff Wilson (R). He added that roughly 8,000 blades have been removed from turbines nationwide. 

“We’ve talked about industries being responsible for the life cycles of their projects,” Sen. Lisa Wellman (D) said.

The bill calls for the study to include the costs, feasibility and environmental impacts of disposal methods for the blades. The study would also look how a state-managed disposal program could be managed and at the possibility of recycling blades made of steel, plastic and fiberglass. 

James Colombo, interim director of the WSU Extension Energy Program, said the research would include looking at the potential market for recycled wind turbine blades and at whether any current recycling operations in Washington could handle the blades.