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Jalisco and industry non-profit Rafiqui have established Mexico’s first specialized solar panel recycling plant in Ciudad Guzmán, addressing mounting photovoltaic waste as the state’s installed solar capacity nears 658MW. Supported by manufacturers like LONGi and industry body AMIF, the project establishes critical circular economy infrastructure for end-of-life hardware. This development signals a strategic shift for Mexico’s renewable energy sector, enabling solar operators, original equipment manufacturers, and corporate power consumers to mitigate ESG compliance risks, secure secondary raw material recovery, and align with global waste management standards.
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Mexico’s first specialized solar panel recycling plant has been established in Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco. The project was launched through a joint initiative between Rafiqui, a non-profit association comprising approximately 17 solar industry companies, and the Jalisco state government.
The facility, reported to operate with structural support from the Mexican Photovoltaic Industry Association (AMIF), addresses the rapid expansion of photovoltaic infrastructure in Jalisco, where roughly 1.6 million solar panels are currently installed. Between 2022 and 2024, the volume of installed solar panels in the state nearly doubled. Jalisco’s Minister of Sustainable Energy Development, Manuel Herrera, stated that the recycling plant originated from working groups formed in January 2025 under the state’s sustainable energy plan.
The plant is situated within the Zapotlan 2000 industrial park in Ciudad Guzman. Ximena Cantú, Director, Rafiqui,  noted that the site was selected for its location and facility characteristics. The association is organizing collection campaigns to establish logistics for panel delivery. When announced, the facility was projected to expand its technical scope to a second phase in which it would be able to recycle lithium batteries.
Before processing, equipment will undergo technical evaluation to determine whether units can be reused or donated to non-profit organizations and communities. For panels reaching the end of their lifecycle, the recycling procedure begins with the removal of the aluminum frame, followed by mechanical crushing and material separation. Through this process, up to 98% of component materials, including glass, aluminum, silicon, silver, copper, and plastic, can be recovered.
Equipment for the facility represented an investment of approximately MX$5 million (US$295,025) to MX$6 million, as reported by Milenio. The operational launch comes alongside projections from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which estimates that Mexico will generate between 6,500t and 30,000t of solar panel waste by 2030, depending on regular and early-loss hardware replacement rates.
Global Technology Support for Circular Economy
To strengthen end-of-life management infrastructure, global solar manufacturer LONGi partnered with Rafiqui in July 2025 to support the development of Mexico’s panel recycling ecosystem, as reported by MBN. LONGi’s participation aligns with its broader “Solar for Solar” strategy and global PV Cycle network integrations, leveraging international recycling benchmarks, such as its support for Brazil’s SunR facility, to scale sustainable waste management solutions across the Mexican market.
Solar Panel Recycling: Imperatives and Challenges
In an MBN Expert Contributor piece, Ana Gutierrez, Product Manager, Maxeon Solar Technologies, highlighted that circularity remains a critical component of ESG often overlooked in solar energy discussions. She emphasized that while Mexico’s rapid market growth in 2024 positioned it at the forefront of the global energy transition, the country lacked comprehensive regulatory frameworks and national infrastructure for managing end-of-life solar equipment. 
She considers that without mandatory circularity policies requiring manufacturers and suppliers to manage the end-of-life phase of modules, Mexico risks creating severe long-term environmental hazards through landfill accumulation while missing key opportunities for green job creation and supply chain transparency.
Data from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes that the global cumulative value of recoverable raw materials from end-of-life panels could reach US$450 million by 2030, equivalent to the raw materials needed to produce roughly 60 million new panels. 
According to EPA, standard crystalline-silicon recycling involves three main technical phases: removing the outer aluminum frame and junction box; separating glass, which accounts for 75% of panel weight, from silicon wafers via thermal, mechanical, or chemical processes; and purifying internal silicon cells along with specialty metals like silver, copper, and tin through chemical and electrical techniques.
Beyond direct material recovery, panel refurbishment and secondary market reuse in off-grid applications, such as EV charging stations, present additional pathways to divert solar hardware from landfills and maximize lifecycle sustainability, EPA’s webpage notes.

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