Although volumes remain small, plans are underway to establish a solar panel recycling facility in Tartu. Epler & Lorenz has received nearly €500,000 in funding from the EU Cohesion Fund to develop the facility.
Most solar panels currently in use in Estonia will not need to be recycled for decades, but questions are already being raised about how to recover valuable metals from the panels in addition to glass. Producer responsibility also remains a major concern.
For more than a decade, solar power has been the fastest-growing renewable energy sector. According to Estonia’s Register of Products of Concern, 60,000 tons of solar panels were placed on the Estonian market between 2018 and 2025. Piret Otsason, head of producer responsibility and hazardous waste at the Ministry of Climate, said solar panel waste is not yet a major problem.
“Waste management companies have estimated that Estonia could generate up to 1,000 tons of solar panel waste annually by 2027. The quantities are currently very small — for example, last year the figure was 100 tons,” Otsason said.
Although solar panels have an average lifespan of 25 to 30 years and larger volumes of waste will not need to be dealt with for years, their disposal is already being discussed. According to Kaur Kuurme, head of electronics recycling organization Eesti Elektroonikaromu, panels are also replaced before the end of their useful lives.
“One reason is conventional mechanical damage, such as hailstorms that render some panels unusable. Another important reason is the opportunity to generate more electricity from the same surface area,” Kuurme explained.
A typical silicon-based solar panel consists of approximately 80 percent glass, with the remainder made up of aluminum, polymers, silicon, copper and silver.
Harri Moora, a senior researcher at the Stockholm Environment Institute, said that while crushing and recycling glass is relatively straightforward, the challenge lies in recovering valuable metals.
“There are no really good technologies available yet and they are very expensive. As far as I know, Estonia does not yet have even a simpler version of such technology,” Moora said.
However, a step in that direction has been taken. This year, waste management company Epler & Lorenz received nearly €500,000 in funding from the European Union’s Cohesion Fund to establish a solar panel processing facility in Tartu.
Janis Lorenz, a member of the company’s management board, said the project aims to develop the capacity to separate and recycle up to 1,600 tons of glass, aluminum, copper and silicon-based fine materials from solar panels annually.
According to estimates by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), global solar panel waste could reach 80 million tons by 2050. Although most solar panels come from China, EU directives require the waste generated here to be managed locally. Moora believes this raises a pressing question about producer responsibility.
“Companies operating today pay their fees, but the waste will only be generated 30 years from now. By then, those companies may no longer exist and neither may the money. The companies operating in the market at that time may be entirely different. This raises the question of where the funding for producer responsibility costs will come from in 30 years and who will cover the costs incurred by the waste management company, whether that is Epler & Lorenz or someone else,” Moora said.
—
Follow ERR News on Facebook and X and never miss an update!
Editor: Marcus Turovski, Mari Peegel
ERR News is the English-language service of Estonian Public Broadcasting, run by a fully independent editorial team.
To read up on ERR News’ comments rules and to contact ERR’s other services, please follow the link below.
