The leading voice for the crushed stone, ready mixed concrete, sand and gravel, and cement industries' community.
PELA is a 10-month hybrid program with online and in-person educational sessions and networking opportunities.
Careers in the Aggregates, Concrete & Cement Industries
The Pennsylvania Aggregates and Concrete Association (PACA) is the industry’s unified voice, representing more than 200 member companies across the state.
Creating a unified and strong voice for our industry.
PACA monitors and analyzes local, state and federal regulations and advocates for a balanced approach by the regulators.
PACA builds a bridge between our members and our partners at PennDOT, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission along with Pennsylvania’s construction industry to further the use of our materials to the benefit of the commonwealth.
One of the most effective tools in government relations for an industry is a robust advocacy/grassroots strategy.
In the last legislative session, we contributed over $275,000 to our political champions.
November 2025 at Hotel Hershey in Hershey, PA (PACA members only event).
PACA offers comprehensive concrete certification programs for ACI, NRMCA, and PennDOT in the central Pennsylvania area.
Membership has its privileges - most of PACA's events are open to PACA members only.
PACA conducts numerous education and training events during the year.
Choose concrete for your next parking lot project.
Streets built with concrete are built to last, consider concrete for your next project.
Concrete's strong, resilient and the choice for your next building or bridge.
PACA works with the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) to convert your parking lot or building project to concrete without hurting your bottom line.
PACA drives a member-approved strategic plan to increase market share and engages specifiers and owners on the value of concrete in their projects.
This program provides free continuing education to the design and specifying communities. There are currently four courses available, ranging from 30 minutes to 60 minutes focused on the cement, aggregates and concrete industries. You'll receive a certificate of completion once you pass a quiz. The bookmarking feature allows you to leave the course and resume where you left off when you return.
Inevitably, the boom in wind energy means a boom in blade recycling. Replacements are common as new designs emerge. Some blades fail, while others reach the end of their intended lifespan. At present, blade failure occurs at a rate of about 0.54% per year, or approximately 3,800 blades.
During a time of massive wind turbine deployment, it is only natural to focus on new installations. However, the lifespan of wind turbines is not infinite – they’re more like 20 to 25 years.
Blade issues are a fact of life on wind farms. They fail for a variety of reasons, including:
Splitting along fibers
Damage from foreign objects
Gel coat cracks
Joint failure
Erosion
Wind power is the largest renewable energy source in the United States. The U.S. Wind Turbine Database lists more than more than 70,800 turbines as of early 2022. The first wind turbine dates to about 40 years ago. There are now 1500 active wind power projects in 44 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Since 1980, the cost of wind power has decreased from $0.55/kWh to $0.032/kWh.
Rapid growth in decommissioned wind turbines is inevitable. By 2050, the weight of decommissioned blades worldwide may be 2 million tons per year. They contain a variety of recyclable materials. Fiberglass is a prime example. Turbine blades also contain calcium oxide, a component of alite, the material in Portland cement that helps it to set. They also contain organic materials like balsa wood and certain kinds of resins.
Recycling a wind turbine blade is a multi-step process:
Blade removal
Split into sections suitable for truck transport
Sections fed into powerful shredders - pieces the size of a deflated football
Further processing for specific applications
According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), most wind turbine blades end up in landfills. Motivated turbine owners seek to keep their decommissioned blades out of landfills. In Europe, wind industry insiders have called for a Europe-wide ban on sending blades to landfills beginning in 2025.
Fortunately, it is possible to recycle approximately 85% of a turbine blade. This includes the steel, copper wire, and electronics in the tower and the nacelle. It also includes the fiberglass in blades made with glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP).
The ultimate goal is to shred or otherwise break down the blades before transport. Mechanical grinding reduces blade fragments in stages. Onsite processing reduces transportation costs. High-voltage pulse fragmentation uses high pressure shockwaves to break down blade materials. It delivers longer, cleaner fibers suitable for concrete, but it consumes considerable energy.
Microwave pyrolysis separates glass or carbon fibers from the polymer matrix. The fibers are usable, and liquid or gaseous polymer becomes a fuel. Fluidized bed gasification is good at handling mixed and/or contaminated GFRP. It is possible to use solvents to break polymer bonds, but scalability is a question.
Quantis estimates that recycling a single seven-ton blade eliminates the consumption of:
Five tons of coal
2.7 tons of silica
1.9 tons of limestone
About one ton of other mineral-based material
The concrete industry benefits from turbine blade recycling in a variety of ways.
Silica recovered from wind turbine blades becomes a substitute for some of the sand and clay that goes into cement production. When used as a partial alternative to coal, it can reduce emissions up to 27%, according to GE.
At present GFRP wind turbine blades are the most common. Recycled fibers from these blades can strengthen concrete.
It is possible to process shredded blades into pebble-sized pieces suitable for use as kiln fuel. This can reduce the use of fossil fuels, reducing emissions in the process.
It is also possible to cut the blades up and use the pieces as concrete reinforcement. This alternative reduces emissions otherwise generated in more complex blade recycling. In fact, this rebar alternative reduces emissions by an estimated 90%.
Two major obstacles to cost-effective blade recycling remain. One is the size of the blades and the other is the distance from wind farms to recycling facilities. Wind farms are often located atop distant ridges or other out-of-the-way places. Transporting blade sections hundreds of miles becomes a new source of emissions. However, electric and/or hydrogen-powered semis may eventually impact this equation.
Companies are already tackling the challenge of blade recycling. Regen Fiber is an Iowa-based startup, while Veolia is a global waste recycling firm.
Regen Fiber is an Iowa-based startup using blade fibers to strengthen concrete. At full production, its plant will recycle 30,000 tons of shredded blade material every year. Applications include pavement, slabs-on-grade, and precast products. Regen Fiber will also use the material for the manufacturing of composites and for soil stabilization. Regen recycles blades without heat, chemicals, or burning.
Veolia has entered into an agreement with GE to shred blades from U.S. wind turbines. It intends to use recovered fiberglass in cement production. In fact, its Louisiana, MO, recycling plant ships about 60 to 80 tons of pulverized blade material to cement manufacturers per day. Roughly 75% of the blade material replaces the raw silica currently used to make cement. The rest replaces some of the coal used to fire the kilns.
Veolia claims 90% blade recycling by weight. About 65% becomes raw material for cement production. Another 28% becomes an alternative to coal in firing the kilns. Veolia says its recycling method reduces CO2 emissions by 27% compared to traditional Portland cement production.
Early on, designers engineered turbine blades for optimum performance. Now, researchers are also looking at new blade materials that are easier to recycle. For example, NREL’s thermoplastic resin research offers a promising alternative. The thermoplastic and epoxy blades had similar stiffness.
The thermoplastic blades exhibit 5-7 times the structural damping of common epoxy/fiberglass blades. This may help to extend the wind turbine lifespans, another source of reduced emissions.
In the future, the cement industry may also benefit from the recycling of other fiberglass-rich items. Boat hulls, airplane wings, and automotive bumper covers are some examples.
The Pennsylvania Aggregates and Concrete Association (PACA) reports on industry developments and innovation. PACA's team welcomes any questions you may have about your upcoming concrete project. Please contact us today!
February 22, 2024
Proficient carbon calculations are increasingly important as “Buy Clean” legislation proliferates. New York and Colorado are among the states that now require carbon calcs for public projects. An estimated 40% of emissions are from the built environment. According to one estimate, the planet’s total building floor area will double by 2060. This makes the concrete industry a key player in the quest for net-zero emissions products and projects.
February 15, 2024
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) notes that cement production is “so carbon intensive that even though cement makes up less than 15% of concrete by weight, it accounts for 90% of concrete’s carbon footprint.” The use of fossil fuels to fire cement kilns is a key source of these carbon emissions.
February 08, 2024
In the quest for reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, everyone has a role to play. In the concrete industry, this includes everyone from manufacturers to contractors, and from trade associations to governments. Here is a review of some of the major initiatives impacting concrete’s sustainability.
February 01, 2024
Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) requires high-temperature calcination of limestone. It is possible to use various emissions-reducing pozzolans in concrete. Fly ash comes from coal-fired power plants. Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) comes from steel mills. Another SCM is metakaolin derived from kaolin.
The program is delivered in one (1) module and it should take approximately 30 minutes to complete. You will receive a certificate of completion once you pass the quiz. The bookmarking feature will allow you to leave the course and resume where you left off when you return.