3 ms·

I'm curious if there's regulation on managing the end-of-life cycles for PV; there's an interesting article on recycling them: https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog

I'm curious if there's regulation on managing the end-of-life cycles for PV; there's an interesting article on recycling them: https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/2017/10/the-opportunities-of-solar-panel-recycling https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/2017/10/the-opportunities-... But it seems it's hypothetical. As far as I know most of these, in North America, end up in the trash. Which is not great due to the toxic materials used leaching into the water system. Anyone know more about this?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
hef19898 5y ago
There is some in Europe, we even have an industry association charged with recycling. How much of the old modules are actually recycled, I don't know. Chinese are buying used ones yo resell in developing countries.
jillesvangurp 5y ago
There are a few companies specializing in recycling solar panels. It's doable. Depending on the type, the panels actually may contain valuable stuff like silver, aluminium, or copper in addition to harmless silicon. Some of the nasty stuff includes lead and cadmium. However, it's not a given that that just leaks out of the panels. Storing that in an inert form in a landfill might be fine. I'm guessing the recycling industry will start ramping up in a decade or two wWhen most of the recently installed stuff starts reaching the end of its useful life. Older PV exists of course but there's just a lot less of that. It's one of those things that will get sorted as demand increases and economies of scale increase. Meanwhile, local regulations are probably a great way to avoid people dumping toxic stuff in landfills. How that's not a thing to begin with is a bit mind boggling. On a positive note, those landfills might be the mines of the future as they contain lots of valuable resources that people discarded.

3 ms·

I'm curious if there's regulation on managing the end-of-life cycles for PV; there's an interesting article on recycling them: https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog

by agentultra 5y ago

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
hef19898 5y ago
There is some in Europe, we even have an industry association charged with recycling. How much of the old modules are actually recycled, I don't know. Chinese are buying used ones yo resell in developing countries.
jillesvangurp 5y ago
There are a few companies specializing in recycling solar panels. It's doable. Depending on the type, the panels actually may contain valuable stuff like silver, aluminium, or copper in addition to harmless silicon. Some of the nasty stuff includes lead and cadmium. However, it's not a given that that just leaks out of the panels. Storing that in an inert form in a landfill might be fine. I'm guessing the recycling industry will start ramping up in a decade or two wWhen most of the recently installed stuff starts reaching the end of its useful life. Older PV exists of course but there's just a lot less of that. It's one of those things that will get sorted as demand increases and economies of scale increase. Meanwhile, local regulations are probably a great way to avoid people dumping toxic stuff in landfills. How that's not a thing to begin with is a bit mind boggling. On a positive note, those landfills might be the mines of the future as they contain lots of valuable resources that people discarded.