The solar industry stands at a critical juncture. As billions of panels installed over the past two decades approach the end of their lifespans, the sector faces the unprecedented challenge of what to do with the tens of millions of tons of decommissioned photovoltaic modules expected to flood the market in the coming years, with volumes projected to reach staggering levels by 2050.
According to Sonia Dunlop, CEO of the Global Solar Council (GSC), the message is clear: the time to address solar recycling is now.
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“Solar recycling has to be dealt with today, for the solar panels being installed now,” Dunlop emphasises, in response to questions from PV Tech Premium. “Due to our nature as a low-cost form of electronics with an extremely long lifespan—sometimes 30+ years—recycling has to be paid for at the point of purchase rather than at the point of disposal.”
This disconnect between installation and decommissioning timelines creates a fundamental challenge. The funds needed to recycle panels decades from now must be collected and carefully invested today, requiring government mandates and industry delivery mechanisms that can span generations.
While some regions have made significant progress, the global recycling infrastructure remains woefully unprepared for the coming wave of decommissioned panels. The European Union has led the charge, mandating solar recycling since 2012, and currently holds over 70% of the global recycling market, according to Dunlop. However, as solar deployment accelerates worldwide, this concentration presents a problem.
“Solar deployment is accelerating, and we need to diversify the recycling industry beyond Europe,” Dunlop notes.
Some of that diversification has begun. Beyond Europe, China, Australia, Japan and South Africa are notable for having national-level policies to regulate PV waste, while a few US states have also instituted PV waste regulations of varying degrees of stringency. At the same time, extensive research efforts are underway, and new innovations are emerging for recovering the most valuable materials from PV modules.
Yet these initiatives remain scattered across a global industry that installed record-breaking capacity in recent years, and nowhere near the necessary industrial capacity is in place to handle the likely waste volumes that will emerge, or to maximise the economic value of the recoverable materials PV modules contain.
Central to addressing the recycling challenge is establishing the right financial mechanisms. Dunlop strongly advocates for what the industry calls an “advanced recycling fee”—a pay-as-you-buy approach that embeds the nominal cost of recycling into the upfront purchase price.
“It protects the consumer from inflated higher costs when the panel reaches the end of its life,” she explains. This model has proven particularly effective in Europe over the past decade, but much of the world has yet to implement similar measures.
The approach faces complications, however. Solar panels are often classified alongside electronic and electrical equipment such as laptops and mobile phones—a categorisation that Dunlop considers a misfit. Panels have much longer lifespans and typically much lower purchase prices per kilogram than consumer electronics. Moreover, many panels installed 25 years ago were manufactured by companies that no longer exist, casualties of the cutthroat nature of solar manufacturing.
“What we really need is for governments to design solar PV-specific—and indeed battery storage-specific—recycling schemes,” Dunlop argues, highlighting the need for tailored regulatory frameworks that account for the unique characteristics of solar technology.
Creating a circular economy for solar panels requires coordinated action from both public and private sectors. Dunlop is clear that if the industry wants to roll out solar at speed and scale, a “both-and approach” is essential.
Major original equipment manufacturers have already begun investing heavily in recycling, either through proprietary technology or partnerships with specialist firms. In the US, Canadian Solar and Qcells have agreements with SOLARCYCLE, for example, while PV Cycle serves numerous companies globally. These private sector initiatives demonstrate industry recognition of the challenge ahead.
However, private investment alone cannot solve the problem. Government mandates and public sector support remain crucial for establishing the comprehensive, well-organised and well-financed global recycling system the industry requires.
The ultimate goal is ambitious but achievable: developing a fully circular lifecycle for photovoltaic equipment. Dunlop cites estimates she has seen suggesting that solar PV and battery energy storage systems could become entirely circular industries, requiring no new mining by 2040. The potential is clear—one old PV module can theoretically produce enough material for ten new ones, Dunlop points out.
“Whether we actually manage to deliver this depends on a well-organised and well-financed global recycling system, which has to be government-mandated,” she states, emphasising the critical role of policy in realising this vision.
Several obstacles currently prevent the industry from achieving circularity at scale. Cost remains a significant factor. While prices have declined, solar recycling can still appear more expensive than landfill disposal in some countries, partly because recovered raw materials are not being resold for their true value. However, innovative companies are developing more efficient recycling technologies daily, and costs are projected to continue falling significantly.
Regulatory gaps present another challenge. In many countries, solar recycling regulations are still catching up to deployment. Australia, Japan, China and India are beginning to examine how they can address the challenge at scale, but comprehensive frameworks are still under development.
The nascent state of the recycling industry itself poses difficulties. A sector striving to catch up to the scale and speed of well-established and rapidly growing solar manufacturing faces inherent growing pains.
The EU’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive stands as a clear blueprint for effective policy. Any region stands to benefit from a more robust solar recycling industry and regulatory environment, but those already delivering deployment at scale have the most immediate need.
Beyond policy, the GSC is working to facilitate practical collaboration across the value chain. The organisation has served as a link between members and specialist recyclers such as PV Cycle, which offers collective and tailor-made waste management and legal compliance services globally. In Nigeria, CleanCyclers represents an innovative approach to expanding PV recycling services in emerging markets, Dunlop says.
Dunlop emphasises the importance of due diligence at both ends of the product lifecycle. The industry is working to engage buyers to “check before you buy” and developers to “check before you throw”. Investors and local authorities are already asking questions about recycling before investing in and permitting utility-scale sites.
Looking ahead, the GSC is considering making recycling part of the Solar Stewardship Initiative buyers’ guidelines. Such integration would formalise recycling considerations into investment and procurement decisions across the industry.
The GSC has discussed the recycling challenge with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and hopes to eventually create a dedicated Recycling Workstream. International standards and harmonisation will play crucial roles in scaling solutions globally.
As the solar industry continues its remarkable growth trajectory, the recycling challenge looms larger with each passing year. The panels being installed today will need proper end-of-life management decades from now, making current action imperative. With the right combination of government mandates, industry investment, technological innovation and international cooperation, the vision of a fully circular solar industry can move from aspiration to reality.
The question is not whether the industry can rise to meet this challenge, but whether it will act with sufficient speed and coordination to build the infrastructure needed before the coming decommissioning wave breaks.
The latest issue of our journal PV Tech Power leads with a special report exploring the PV end-of-life challenge, from project decommissioning through to recycling and the pathway towards a circular PV supply chain. To read our coverage in full, click here (subscription required).

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