“Our patented recycling process is based on cold atmospheric plasma”, Benjamin Saada, Fairmat

What is FairPly and how did you develop it?

FairPly is a new patented material made from our Fairmat Chips, 100% recycled carbon composite chips. It comes in sheet or roll form and is available in a range of weights and thicknesses from 200 to 400 g/m², equivalent to conventional prepregs used in industry.

Its main advantage is its ease of integration. Unlike traditional prepregs, it contains no raw resin and does not need to be stored at -20°C, making it easier to transport and use. It is compatible with thermoplastic and thermosetting resins in various forms – film, liquid or spray – and can be combined with other materials such as fibreglass or other composites.

We designed FairPly to be three times faster to integrate into products than our Fairmat Chips. Its plug-and-play format allows manufacturers to adopt it without changing their manufacturing processes, simplifying integration and accelerating adoption.

Your material reduces CO₂ emissions by 90% compared to manufacturing virgin fibre. How is this possible?

We have developed an approach that enables us to recover waste materials mainly from the aerospace and wind power industries, production offcuts or edges of pultrusion offcuts, which would otherwise be incinerated or landfilled. These materials are transformed into unidirectional and bidirectional Fairmat Chips, which are then used to manufacture FairPly. The process is entirely mechanical, and therefore generates almost no pollution.

FairPly is made from at least 90% recycled fibre, with the remaining 10% varying according to specific needs and applications. The latter percentage can include backing films in various materials – recycled or not – to offer manufacturers a made-to-measure solution.

What’s more, FairPly is designed to be recycled at the end of its life using our Infinity Recycling technology. This means that, once the supply chain is well established, we will be able to provide closed-loop recycling, avoiding the accumulation of composite waste.

What is Infinity Recycling technology?

Infinity Recycling is our patented process that allows carbon fibre composites to be recycled indefinitely, with no loss of performance. Unlike conventional recycling methods, which degrade the material, we use a patented process based on cold atmospheric plasma, which selectively removes the resin without altering the carbon fibres. This allows us to recover up to 90% of the material while reducing CO₂ emissions by 10 times compared to traditional processes. Thanks to this process, our Fairmat Chips can be reused for as long as the original carbon composite, paving the way for a true circular model in the composites industry.

How do you manage to offer a lower cost than existing solutions?

One of the major challenges with recycled materials is to eliminate the ‘green premium’ – the extra cost that is holding back their adoption. So we designed FairPly and our industrial model to be competitive with virgin materials.

Our 4.0 factories are thought out to optimise every stage of production thanks to advanced robotics, computer vision and digital twins. These technologies enable us to automate manufacturing, guarantee consistent quality and limit material wastage.

FairPly has also been designed to be plug-and-play, meaning that it can be integrated directly into existing production lines without requiring major changes to industrial processes. This compatibility reduces adoption costs for our customers and accelerates their transition to sustainable materials. By combining this industrial efficiency with minimal integration costs, we are able to offer a sustainable alternative that costs less than the materials being replaced.

What type of applications are you targeting?

FairPly is designed to meet the needs of industries where circularity and economic competitiveness are essential. It offers a sustainable alternative in sectors such as sport, electronics and mobility, where the adoption of more responsible materials is becoming a strategic issue.

In the automotive industry, where the search for lightweight, sustainable solutions is speeding up, materials like FairPly represent a promising alternative for the future. Similarly, consumer goods and electronics are areas where the transition to recycled composites could play a key role in meeting new regulatory requirements.

Sport is an established market for your materials…

Yes, and it’s a key sector for us because it combines innovation, performance and sustainability. Sport is a perfect showcase to demonstrate that Fairmat recycled materials rival virgin materials in terms of rigidity, strength and lightness.

With Decathlon, we have designed a padel racket that combines high performance with a reduced carbon footprint. We are also working with some big names who are looking to incorporate our materials into items for top-level players, proving that recycled materials can meet the demands of professional athletes.

One of our most notable projects is our collaboration with DPS Skis. Their new Pisteworks range, which incorporates FairPly under the binding, proves that our materials can provide real added value in terms of performance and industrialisation. This type of partnership shows that innovation and sustainability are not mutually exclusive. Our objective is clear: to prove that recycled materials are not a cut-price alternative, but a solution for the future for the industry as a whole.

Photos : Fairmat