GOING GREEN
RECYCLABLE SAILS
The issue that has faced the recycling of sails has been one of performance. Polyester, nylon and carbon sailcloth are vastly compromised by recycling,” according to Alastair Shires of sailcloth manufacturer Contender UK. There has been progress though. For instance, One Sails has developed a product range called 4T Forte which can be recycled. A top-spec 4T Forte sail is a one-piece threedimensional sail made entirely of polyethylene, and is “essentially melted into one piece and then vacuumed to squeeze it as it’s heated, and it then melts into one homogeneous entity,” explains One Sail’s Peter Kay. The sails use a high-modulus polyethylene fibre called STR, and its membrane is completely recyclable in a standard waste separation process. In the less expensive version that uses an aramid instead of the STR, about 80 per cent of the sail mass can be recycled. Over the last five years, 4T Forte sails have become One Sails’ main product line and they have made “several thousand” of them. The first batch of post-consumer used sails is just completing its recycling path, testing the validity of the recycling route. The company doesn’t expect to be able to make new sails from the recycled old sails – although, they have, to date, made new plastic headboards.
TAKING TO THE SKIES
Light Black Design’s Dan Primrose has been developing a process for recycling North carbon 3Di sails. This started when he was given some redundant sails from the Wally Cento Magic Carpet into lightweight cain sole boards to replace heavy wooden boards while racing. These recycled boards are 20mm thick with the recycled carbon forming the skins sandwiching a foam core. Primrose is now developing the process to allow such recycled materials to be incorporated into aeroplane seats, with a view to then also making seats for high-speed ferries. “It would be quite nice to take something from the marine world and put it back into the marine world,” he said, “but my ultimate goal is to be able to make new sails from recycled sails.”
IDENTIFYING MATERIALS
The issue of not knowing exactly how a sail is constructed has the potential to be a frequently serious problem if and when, in the future, recycling sails becomes more commonplace. But if each new sail was issued with some sort of certificate, or at least a serial number linking it back to detailed records at the original sailmaker, that would go a long way to solving that problem.
SAILS FROM OLD PLASTIC
There have also been recent developments in making sails out of recycled plastic bottles and other plastics. Last year sailcloth manufacturer Challenge Sailcloth started a new subsidiary company called Challenge Outdoor to produce a range of 100 per cent recycled polyester materials called Ecopak from which products such as rucksacks can be made. Hand in hand with that, and in partnership with Elvstrom Sails, Challenge has developed a new sailcloth called XRP Cruise Recycled, made from 100 per cent recycled plastics.
Elvstrom will have the exclusive rights to this material for a year before it is made available to other sailmakers. Sails made from this material have been “tested to oblivion in Denmark,” according to Elvstrom Sails UK’s Jeremy White but the product has only recently been launched in the UK. Although it is primarily for the cruising market in which the all-polyester yarns can cope with the loads, there is also a product called XRP Race – a laminate sail where the film as well as the fibre is recycled – for racing boats up to about 30ft (9.1m). Larger race boats are more likely to need sails with high-tech yarns not from 100 per cent recycled material.
SAILS TO BAGS
There are of course many examples of companies reusing, rather than recycling, sailcloth to make products like bags and clothing. One such company is Sails and Canvas at Topsham in Devon who make a large variety of bags as well as deck chairs, windbreaks, cushions; even a backgammon set. These are mostly made from old polyester sails but some nylon is used and the company is looking into the possibility of making products from laminate sails. They typically take delivery of around eight sails each week.
Occasionally one of those might be what they call an “end of life” sail, one that is in too poor condition or too dirty to be made into a sellable product, but they have resolved this by making buckets which they have donated to the environmental organisation 2-Minute Beach Clean. Sanders Sails frequently find that customers leave them their old sails but in almost every case they are passed on to other companies or individuals who convert them into products as diverse as dog beds, garden shades, gym bags and garden waste collectors. An important consideration when reusing old sails in this way is that they all have “impurities” – ie parts made of materials other than the basic sailcloth, mostly around the edges. But these too, are often used in imaginative ways. Hyde Sails, for instance, “have participated in deconstructing a container load of old Clipper Venture sails into cool accessories with a nautical twist,” said Nigel Grogan “and using things like big stainless rings and clips into things like – believe it or not – dog leads!” But it isn’t just used sailcloth that can be used in such ways – according to Hermione Barfield of sailcloth manufacturer Bainbridge International, “we look to make sure that any cloth that does not pass our rigorous quality control process is not simply disposed of but used for other things such as sail bags, jackets and accessories that are taken up by our trade and retail customers.”
Attitudes towards sails sustainability is clearly changing but it seems to be a recent development. Nearly all sailmakers now report a great surge in customer demand for recyclable sails. One sailmaker told us that he thinks 95 per cent of old sails still go to landfill: “Some sails may first spend some time in a garage but that only postpones the landfill,” he said – so there is still a long way to go.