Addressing the waste generated by a growing clean energy source, GE Renewable Energy on Tuesday announced an agreement with Veolia North America to recycle blades removed from its on-shore wind energy turbines in the United States.

Under the contract, blades removed during upgrades and repowering efforts will be used to replace raw materials in cement manufacturing, a strategy that is forecast to reduce carbon emissions from cement production by 27 percent.

The announcement, made by stakeholders based in Boston and Schenectady, New York, is being described as the first agreement of its kind in the U.S. wind industry

Veolia, which already supplies repurposed engineering materials the cement industry, plans to use a kiln processing technology to recycle the blades, which are mostly made of fiberglass and will be shredded at a facility in Missouri and then used to replace coal, sand and clay at cement-making facilities.

“Sustainable disposal of composites such as wind turbine blades has been a challenge, not only for the wind turbine industry, but also for aerospace, maritime, automotive and construction industries,” said Anne McEntee, CEO of GE Renewable Energy’s Digital Services business. “VNA’s unique offering provides the opportunity to scale up and deploy quickly in North America, with minimum disruption to customers and significant benefit to the environment.”

Longer and lighter blades help turbines generate more energy, according to GE, with replacement projects creating reuse challenges for the older blades.