In this work, Opuntia (commonly called prickly pear cactus) was investigated as a source for reinforcing plant fibers, as it represents a low‐cost and widely available alternative to other commonly used natural fibers, such as kenaf, hemp, sisal, or flax. A fiber network that reflects the shape of the leaf structure can be found in the cladodes of Opuntia. Water retting was identified as the most promising method to extract the fiber network from the plant. Tensile tests and thermogravimetric analysis were performed on the extracted fibers to evaluate the quality of the extraction process. Different parameters such as time, surface exposure, and temperature were investigated to optimize the water retting process. The results indicate that an increase in surface exposure and higher water temperature leads to a reduction in time needed for fiber extraction. The extracted fibers were then embedded in a PLA matrix by compression molding to fabricate a fiber‐reinforced composite. The mechanical performance of the Opuntia fiber‐reinforced plastic was investigated. Analysis (particularly mechanical, optical and fiber volume content) indicates that the impregnating quality was insufficient, leading to a weak performance of the material.

Carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRPs) combine outstanding strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios with long-term durability, enabling significant weight reduction, energy savings, and emission mitigation compared with conventional structural materials. Their rapidly increasing use in aerospace, mobility, infrastructure, and energy applications, however, raises critical challenges for end-of-life management. While mechanical, thermal, and chemical recycling routes for CFRPs have been widely investigated, comparative assessments often emphasize degradation efficiency or fiber recovery while giving limited attention to matrix chemistry and safety, health, and environmental (SHE) implications. This review focuses on the chemical recycling of anhydride-cured epoxy resin systems, which dominate many high-growth CFRP applications. The various solvolysis and depolymerization strategies are critically examined in terms of reaction conditions, targeted bond-cleavage pathways, and the chemical structure and reusability of the resulting degradation products. Unlike previous reviews, this work integrates mechanistic analysis of anhydride-cured epoxy degradation with a quantitative evaluation of the SHE profiles of solvents and co-reactants, enabling comparison of chemical recycling routes beyond process efficiency alone. By jointly addressing chemical performance, circularity potential, and safety considerations, this review provides a framework for assessing and guiding the development of more sustainable chemical recycling strategies for CFRP systems.

The growing use of carbon fiber–reinforced thermosets has led to the accumulation of significant composite waste, posing environmental and economic challenges, and threatening the long‐term sustainability of these high‐performance materials. In line with circular economy principles, this study explores a closed‐loop strategy for high‐fidelity carbon fiber recovery from fully cured pultruded epoxy–anhydride composites using a mild, low‐temperature solvolysis process. The reclaimed fibers were subsequently reprocessed by wet‐laid into nonwoven mats and used to fabricate second‐life epoxy composites, which were benchmarked against analogous systems based on virgin carbon fibers. Single fiber tensile strength was retained after solvolysis, while the apparent interfacial shear strength with the epoxy matrix decreased by approximately 20%, attributed to partial sizing removal and fiber surface modification. Despite this reduction in interfacial strength, reclaimed‐fiber composites exhibited mechanical performance close to their virgin‐fiber counterparts, with a flexural strength of approximately 384 MPa, only 4% lower than that of the virgin‐fiber composite that has a slightly higher fiber volume percentage. Thermal and dynamic‐mechanical analyses revealed the same thermal degradation behavior and glass transition temperatures for both composite types. These findings demonstrate that the combined mild solvolysis and wet‐laid processing route have the potential to become a scalable and industrially viable alternative to conventional high‐temperature or aggressive chemical recycling methods, enabling the effective conversion of thermoset composite waste into valuable secondary raw materials and advancing circularity in the composites industry.