Used solar panels ‘ending up in landfill’ instead of being recycled

SOLAR panel parts that have reached life expectancy could be ending up in landfill, an expert has warned as the technology is not being fully recycled.

Strict rules require solar panel manufacturers in the UK to collect and recycle most of their products by weight.

But current mechanical recycling techniques mean valuable silicon and silver is being lost, academics have warned.

Thousands of tons of spent solar panels are expected to be recycled in the next 30 years, with academics estimating that 100 million tons could reach end of life by 2050, more than one million of which is expected to come from the UK. A significant rise is expected just over a decade from now as more than 100,000 of panels bought using the Government’s solar panel subsidy, which was scrapped at the start of 2016, come to the end of their lifespan, typically 20 to 25 years.

It is estimated that about a million people own solar panels on their homes.

The UK follows European waste rules that require producers to collect 80 per cent and recycle 70 per cent of the materials they produce.

But experts warn that only the glass and aluminium, which make up the bulk of the panels, are being fully recycled while other critical raw materials used in smaller amounts are wasted.

The world faces a shortage of raw materials used in panels, including indium and tellurium, which are often mined in environmentally damaging ways and largely controlled by China.

A study by researchers at Ghent University in Belgium found that the current European targets were “insufficient” to make sure all the materials are reused.

Matthew Davies, professor of chemical engineering at Swansea University, said: “At the moment, at end of life, we don’t have efficient recycling pathways. The aluminium frames will be removed, which are valuable and easy to remove.

“The high-grade silicon, which a lot of money and energy has gone into to make a solar panel, will just be shredded and we end up with very low-grade aggregate material.”

Some of that aggregate “may well end up in landfill”, Prof Davies warned.