Do Solar Panels Get Recycled Post-Use?
Solar panels are extremely long-lived. In fact, the average solar panel is designed to work efficiently for as many as 30 years or more. But like everything, age does take its toll and eventually, solar panels will need to be replaced.
So, what happens to your old solar panels when it comes time to replace them with new ones? In this post, you will learn more about solar panel recycling and how your old panels are actually paving the way for the future of the industry.
Solar Panels Are Ideal Products for Recycling
Dealing with end-of-life solar panels is a relatively new problem, but it is fast becoming a growing one simply due to the sheer number of panels reaching or nearing their end of service. And because crystalline panels contain heavy metals like cadmium and lead, recycling them properly is a must. After all, consumers typically choose solar for its minimal affect on the environment. To have these toxic materials end up in landfills would completely eradicate the purpose of going solar in the first place.
Luckily, old solar panels also contain plenty of reusable materials, which make them ideal for recycling. When they are recycled in the proper manner, solar panels can be harvested for parts that can be used to manufacture new panels, such as glass, metal, wires, silicon, and plexiglass. Even rare elements, like gallium and indium, both of which are being rapidly depleted from the natural environment, can be recovered and reused, thus reducing the need to take more from the planet.
The Challenges of Recycling Solar Panels
While old solar panels can be a treasure trove of reusable materials, the biggest challenge in recycling them is also due to their large number of different parts. To harvest the individual materials, every part of the panel needs to be separated and recycled in a unique way. This makes recycling solar panels not only complex, but also potentially expensive.
Solar recycling is still in its early stages, but the industry is taking significant strides to simply the process and make it more widely available. Today, there are a growing number of companies, like Recycle PV, that are capable of recycling your old solar panels and even some manufacturers have started doing it to help make it even easier for consumers to retire their old solar panels properly instead of tossing them out in the trash.
Solar Will Soon Be a Truly Sustainable Clean Energy Source
Solar is considered a sustainable energy source because it converts the sun’s rays into usable energy. But before it can be truly considered sustainable, the complete lifecycle of its individual components needs to be able to be recycled to minimize the affect manufacturing and disposal have on the environment.
With solar panel recycling being perfected as we speak, recyclers like Recycle PV are now able to reclaim and reuse over 90% of all materials contained in solar panels. That is an impressive statistic that will only improve over time, and help spearhead the future of the solar industry to make it as clean and sustainable as possible.