The Arctic Impact Project · Innovation

A boat you can recycle.

40 million fibreglass boats are reaching the end of their lives with nowhere to go. Lisa's Arctic yacht will prove there's a better way to build.

The problem

The marine industry's hidden waste crisis

An estimated 35 to 40 million fibreglass boats worldwide are reaching end-of-life, with no scalable way to recycle them. They are scuttled, abandoned in mangroves or buried in landfill, where they last for centuries and break down into microplastics.

7,000 shards of fibreglass were found in a single kilogram of oyster flesh in the UK's Chichester Harbour
When France offered free yacht disposal, 2,000 boats were handed in, while an estimated 100,000 were abandoned or sunk in the same year
Queensland's War on Wrecks has removed just over 1,000 boats at a cost of more than $30 million

The solution

Basalt fibre + bio-resins

Volcanic rock

Basalt fibre

Up to 10 times stronger than fibreglass, naturally fire resistant and 100% recyclable.

Plant-based

Bio-resins

Lower-toxicity, lower-carbon replacements for petroleum resins.

Proof-of-concept

The Arctic yacht

Tested in the harshest conditions on Earth to prove it works for everyone.

The research

A $2M collaboration (2026–2027)

Lisa Blair OAM, UNSW Sydney (led by Scientia Professor Gangadhara Prusty), the Australian Composites Manufacturing CRC, Steber International and SOENECS have launched a landmark two-year project to validate basalt fibre and bio-resins as a scalable, circular alternative to fibreglass.

The research builds the verified engineering data that naval architects, boatbuilders and regulators need to adopt these materials with confidence, through global material screening, extreme marine exposure testing and full cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assessments.

3-phase validation roadmap

From the lab to the Arctic

Phase	When	What happens
1. Lab characterisationUnderway	Months 0–9	Global bio-resin screening; baseline testing of three systems: basalt + standard marine epoxy (control), and basalt + two high-bio-content resins
2. Harsh marine exposureNext	Months 9–15	Saltwater immersion and −20°C testing, including sandwich panels with balsa and recycled PET cores
3. Scale & lifecycle2027	Months 15–24	A 15-foot test hull, built by hand lay-up with Steber International, plus a full Life Cycle Assessment

All composite performance data will be published open-access to set new global benchmarks.

Open now

Call for bio-resin suppliers

We're inviting bio-resin manufacturers to put their formulations forward for testing. The top two candidates progress to full laboratory, environmental and scale testing.

Parameter	Target requirement
Application	Structural marine composites, basalt fibre reinforcement
Manufacturing	Vacuum infusion / hand lay-up
Bio-based content	≥50% of the resin–hardener system
Viscosity / pot life	Low viscosity for infusion; 40–60 min pot life at room temperature
Cure	Room-temperature cure preferred; post-cure ≤60°C; Tg ≥100°C
Durability	Low water uptake, seawater resistant, suitable to around −30°C

Your IP stays yours: proprietary formulations remain 100% supplier property, protected by NDAs during screening. Partners gain non-exclusive rights to use the published UNSW data to validate products and fast-track class approvals.