01 The Decommissioning Wave: Scale and Challenges of Global PV Waste

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) forecasts that global solar waste could cumulatively reach 78 million tonnes by 2050.

This staggering figure stems from the explosive growth of the global photovoltaic industry over recent decades.

Early-installed PV modules are now gradually entering their end-of-life phase. With a typical design lifespan of around 25 years, the first panels installed from the 1990s to the early 2000s are successively reaching the end of their usable life.

China, being the largest photovoltaic (PV) market, is faced with particularly severe challenges. The China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) expects that PV module waste will peak in China around 2030, at a maximum of about 1.4 million tonnes; and that cumulative PV module waste will be about 20 million tonnes by 2040.

If these retired solar panels are not treated and directly recycled in landfills, the waste not only occupies large land resources, but also poses a serious threat to the ecological environment as the small amount of hazardous materials (you can think of these as “toxic”) like lead and cadmium they contain can really pollute soil and groundwater.

Nevertheless, there are opportunities within this crisis. Cheng Gangqi, Secretary-General of the Committee of Wind and Solar Equipment Recycling at the China National Resources Recycling Association, points out that the very solid waste from the “new three” (power batteries, PV modules and wind turbine blades) should not be considered “end-of-life waste” but as “secondary resources”, with enormous potential.

02 Regional Responses: Global PV Recycling Policies and Practices

Confronting the impending wave of PV retirements, major global economies are adopting varied strategies.

Europe continues to lead the way for the rest of the world in PV waste management. According to the EU’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, member states are required to either implement their own recycling schemes or join a producer compliance scheme to recycle their PV modules. The Directive has a set target for a collection rate of 85% and recovery/recycling rate of 80%.

As of 2022, European countries collected nearly 50,000 tonnes of PV module waste from 18 countries across the continent. Out of these countries, Italy recorded the highest collection of PV module waste with 21,500 tonnes, while Germany followed as the second highest with 16,500 tonnes.

The Reiling Group in Germany operates the largest recycling plant dedicated to PV in Europe, located in Münster, with a capacity of up to 50,000 tonnes each year.

Countries in the Asia-Pacific are considering varying options for the management of PV module waste. While Japan does not have specific legislation regarding waste of PV modules, it did recycle around 2,079 tonnes of module waste in 2022.

PV module recycling is now also subject to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations in South Korea, which means manufacturers are responsible for the waste created by their product. South Korea implemented EPR regulations regarding PV modules in 2023, reaching a total of 688 tonnes recycled, greatly exceeding their target of 159 tonnes.

As the world’s largest PV market, China arguably faces the most serious challenge. Estimates suggest that cumulative PV module scrappage could reach 1 million tonnes by 2030 under normal loss performance and over 4 million tonnes under early loss performance.

A number of major Chinese companies, including China Resources Recycling Group Co., Ltd., have initiated PV module recycling production lines.

03 Technology Frontier: From Recycling to High-Value Utilization

Photovoltaic (PV) recycling technologies are advancing rapidly, transitioning from simple mechanical processing to chemical recycling methods that can achieve and retrieve high-purity materials suitable for recycling back to new PV module levels or for other high-value applications.

EU-funded projects, PHOTORAMA and EVERPV, are developing multi-step pilot lines that will process both crystalline silicon and thin-film modules simultaneously, with targets of retrieving 95-98% of metals.

The projects are looking into advanced delamination technologies, including diamond wire cutting, water-jet technology, and infrared lamps.

In Japan, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) has established targets for material recovery rates to exceed 80% and net processing costs below 3 yen per watt. Australian projects have even higher recovery rate goals to exceed 95% for silver, copper, silicon, and glass.

In China, new high-value utilization pathways are emerging.

On June 30, 2025, China Resources Recycling Group Co., Ltd. successfully commenced operation of the world’s first fully self-developed production line for full-color photoelectric functional materials.

The decommissioned PV modules undergo surface treatment using this technology to produce rich colors and patterns, which are then transformed into high-value functional materials for facades of buildings, PV carports, or other applications.

“Some PV panels generally have service lives of around twenty years, but most decommissioned panels are not broken; they just produce lower generation efficiencies. After decommissioning, to directly scrap and disassemble them is a waste of resources,” said Liu Zhigang, General Manager of Xinyuan Jingwu, a subsidiary of China Resources Recycling Group.

04 Economic Challenges: Costs and the Plight of Formal Enterprises

Despite advancements in technology, PV recycling remains encumbered by economic challenges.

Industry research shows that the cost of recycling has an approximate price of USD 800-1,200 a tonne, while the cost of replacing the same virgin materials is only USD 600-900, establishing a clear economic disadvantage to the recycling operation.

The principle cause of these high costs can be attributed to the application of Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA) in the manufacturing of panels as an encapsulant for waterproofing. EVA is applied as an encapsulant with glass and silicon wafers, with the applied heat creating notable chemical bonds by glass and silicon wafers, which when disassembling are both costly and energy intensive to break.

The competition with unauthorized disassembling, and the presence of “backyard workshops,” confound the market.

Chen Xingwen, Chief Strategist with Zhuhai Heiqi Capital Investment Management Partnership, said: “Illegal dismantling occurs everywhere, particularly with small workshops, while occupying a large market share. The operation methods are crude, wasting resources and causing irreparable harm to the environment.”

Wang Hudong, Vice General Manager of Jinghuan Jiayuan, added: “The operators of some operations employ violent dismantling methods, disregarding environmental protection in order to establish price improved techniques.” This relocation of normal market order is damaging the industry’s normal market order, while establishing low-cost competition at the cost of environmental impact.

Transportation costs present another major challenge. The economically viable radius for logistics costs is roughly 500 to 600 kilometers. Beyond this range, transportation costs become disproportionately high, weakening the economics of acquiring scrap modules.

05 The Path Forward: Policy Support and Standardization System Development

To foster the healthy development of the PV recycling industry, countries are strengthening policy support and working on standardizing their systems.

In 2023, China put forth the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Recycling of Decommissioned Wind Power and Photovoltaic Equipment,” which clearly stated that by 2025, a responsibility mechanism should be basically established to deal with decommissioned equipment from centralized wind farms and PV power stations, and the standards and specifications for recycling decommissioned wind and PV equipment should be improved.

By 2030, in principle, a mature full-lifecycle recycling technology system for wind and photovoltaic equipment should be basically established.

Concerning the problem of informal workshops taking profits away from formal enterprises, Lü Fang, Secretary-General of a PV recycling center, stated that relevant authorities are studying a “white list” for component recycling, along with operational standards and regulatory measures, so as to respond to the need to hold up normal industry order.

Chen Yifeng, Vice President of Trina Solar, emphasized, “The industry urgently needs to utilize internet and digital technologies to establish a standardized system, and it also requires localization and division of labor within the industrial chain.”

Establishing a sound collection and recycling system is also crucial.

Xiang Weili, Executive Director of Frost & Sullivan Greater China, suggested supporting PV equipment manufacturers in establishing regional PV component collection warehouses through various models like self-collection, joint collection, or entrusted collection. An “internet + PV component recycling” online monitoring model could be adopted to track and statistically report the annual volume of decommissioned PV components from various power generation enterprises in real-time.

The global PV recycling market holds immense potential. According to a MarketsandMarkets report, the component recycling market size is projected to be $390 million in 2025, soaring to $1.12 billion by 2030.

Per the “2024 China PV Recycling and Circular Economy White Paper,” the size of the market is expected to reach around 420 billion yuan (~$58.8 billion) by 2050.

PV recycling is shifting from an environmental problem to a strategic issue related to resource security and green economic growth. With the growth in global PV waste continuing to escalate, a smart and standardized system of recycling and re-using will be an important barometer for determining if green sources are truly sustainable.