What Happens to Old Solar Panels in the UK?
As the UK continues to embrace renewable energy, the number of end-of-life solar panels is growing. Recycling these panels sustainably is crucial and more complex than you might think. Here’s a bit more about the process and the future of recycling solar.
How Solar Panels Get Recycled
Solar panels are made up of several valuable materials - glass, aluminum, silicon, and sometimes rare metals like silver. The recycling process usually goes like this:
Disassembly - The aluminium frame and electrical bits (like junction boxes) are removed and recycled separately.
Glass Recovery - The glass, which makes up most of the panel, is carefully taken out and reused.
Material Extraction - Using heat or chemicals, recyclers extract silicon and other useful metals.
Where can the materials be used again?
The recycled glass can be used in solar panel production or insulation products.
The Silicon wafers go back into the semiconductor and solar industries.
The recovered metals like silver and copper are reused in electrical wiring and new photovoltaic modules.
Aluminium can be reprocessed and used in construction materials or vehicle manufacturing.
The Current Challenges
Recycling solar panels isn’t always straightforward. Older panels can be tricky to process, and not all recycling centers have the right tech in place yet. Plus, the rules around solar waste are still catching up.
What’s Next?
The good news: recycling methods are improving fast! New innovations and stricter regulations are making it easier to give solar panels a second life and create what’s called a circular economy.
How We Can Help
At Sixtowns Waste, we work with a recycling centre for solar panels that has achieved an industry leading 95% recovery with the rest going to waste-to-energy. Get in touch if you have old solar panels that you want to arrange a responsible disposal of.
You can learn more about how other electrical devices are recycled here and find out what other electrical items we can recycle here.
