Eco startup is turning old sails into chemicals

Approximately 2,000 tonnes of polyethene terephthalate (PET) sails are decommissioned or damaged beyond repair each year in the marine sector, with most ending up in storage or landfill sites. Sustainable Sailing, a startup founded by two brothers with expertise in sailing and chemistry, is exploring alternative methods to process this waste.

The startup has partnered with the Sadler Lab at the University of Edinburgh, securing funding from Innovate UK’s bio-based manufacturing Launchpad competition for Scotland, and support from the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC). Leveraging the Sadler group's engineered biology and green chemistry skills, the team has identified a way to use discarded sails as raw materials for valuable chemical compounds traditionally sourced from petrochemicals.

Sails, made from durable synthetic textiles to endure harsh ocean conditions, typically need replacing every five years. Professional racing teams, however, may go through several sails per event, and current recycling options for these technical materials are limited.

Sustainable Sailing has developed a high-pressure steam treatment process to break down sailcloth into its chemical components, which can then be used in existing industrial and manufacturing processes. Initially, the company focused on converting these components into other types of plastic but is now shifting towards creating more sustainable materials. This project could potentially repurpose waste sails as a substitute for fossil fuels in producing high-value chemicals used in everyday products.

Building on previous research that demonstrated the feasibility of converting single-use PET drink bottles into vanillin using engineered E. coli bacteria, the same method is being tested to recycle sailing waste into similar chemicals.

Dr Joe Penhaul Smith, Founding Director of Sustainable Sailing, said: “Water sports and sailing have always been part of our family, so with my scientific background and my brother’s professional sailing experience we hope to use our skills to tackle the marine industry’s environmental footprint.

“Some decommissioned sails are turned into one-off clothing pieces or bags, but there’s no large-scale solution to tackle the waste material. This project aims to find a new circular recycling process where sailcloth can be broken down and repurposed into useful chemical compounds. The added benefit is that these types of compounds are traditionally manufactured from petrochemicals, so marine waste could become an alternative, more sustainable feedstock.

“The next stage of the process is to take it to a much larger scale, as well as working out the supply and demand dynamics to see whether it would be viable to have everyday chemicals manufactured in this way. There is also potential to extract different chemical building blocks for other industrial uses, and we could see additional types of technical textiles being recycled in this way in future.”

Dr Liz Fletcher, Director of Business Engagement at IBioIC, added: “It’s great to see this collaboration between individuals in water sports, chemistry and engineered biology making positive progress, using engineered microbes to deal with waste materials that would otherwise go to landfill. Our work across the bioeconomy continues to prove that one industry’s waste can be a valuable raw material for another. Sustainable Sailing is reducing waste and helping to provide alternatives to petrochemical-derived products, supporting the UK’s ongoing push for net zero.”

Dr Joanna Sadler, Chancellor’s Fellow in Biotechnology and Founder of the Sadler lab, University of Edinburgh, said: “We’re delighted to be part of this collaboration which draws upon our expertise to test the viability of using a biological system to upcycle plastic fibres from sails into high-value chemicals. The results from our research have already had major implications for the field of plastic sustainability and demonstrates the power of engineering biology to address real-world challenges.”