How to recycle old solar panels?
What happens to old solar panels? Most solar panels tend to have a lifespan of around 25 years. Once their useful life is over, the panels will need to be retired, removed and replaced with new ones. But what about those used panels? Are they safe to throw away? Can they be recycled?
While most electronics can be recycled relatively safely, the toxic components of solar panels can become a real problem if a reliable way to safely retire old panels is not found. If not, most of these panels, as they are today, could end up in landfills.
One of the problems with recycling efforts is that solar cells are often encapsulated in plastic and sandwiched between glass and a backsheet. While disassembly isn't technically challenging, it takes time, and time means money to potential recycling companies. Some recycling methods do exist that are also supported by the market, for example, in a typical e-waste facility, the aluminum frames and junction boxes of solar panels are stripped to recycle the metal in them. However, as we've already highlighted, the rest of the panel is encapsulated in a layer of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) plastic bonded to the glass. For this reason, the rest of the panel (glass, polymer and solar cells) is usually simply shredded, although it is coated with silver electrodes and soldered using tin and lead. Since most of the mass of this material is glass, it is usually only considered an impure form of cullet. This waste glass usually cannot be recycled further because it often contains plastic, lead, cadmium and antimony, which can be particularly harmful to the environment if they are leached from the waste.
Only a fraction of solar panels can be recycled? That's changing rapidly. The panels do contain some very valuable materials like silver and silicon. Extracting these may be worth the time to efficiently recycle old PV panels, if the price is right.
Like other recycling companies, first remove the aluminum frame, wires, etc. They then shred the rest of the panel and subject it to special chemical treatments, electrolysis and other processes. This processing allows the company to separate out the metal, silicon and glass for future shipment to downstream processors.
Another angle to tackling the waste of installing PV panels is to find a way to reuse old panels instead of recycling or dumping them. Since older panels may be more valuable than being part of it, this could be a very promising approach.
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