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The average wind turbine is a bit of a Catch-22. The turbines – and their individual blades — are designed to create a sustainable form of energy, but the very act of creating the blades – composed of fiberglass and filled with pvc foam or balsa wood — uses up a huge amount of resources. And once the turbines have served their useful life, they end up back in the ground in a less than sustainable form.

Considering that a single turbine blade weighs about 30 tons – and that in 2012 there were an estimated 700,000 turbine blades in use — that’s a heck of a lot of engineered composite material that’s destined to end up in landfills in about 25 years.

With an eye toward finding ways to recycle the turbine blades it produces, Vestas is asking for people to submit ideas for turning used blades into recycled products.

There are a few rules for those considering entering the competition. At least 50 percent of a design must be made from turbine blades; the material of a blade can be cut or processed, but the structure has to remain the same (the goal here is to save resources, remember); and the end product must have a marketable value.

Ideas must be submitted via a template that can be downloaded

Submit completed templates – a maximum of three per person – to [email protected] before Oct. 20.

The top three ideas will receive 3-D prints of their designs. The overall best design will win a pretty cool scooter made from a Vestas blade.