We Recycle Solar, Inc., the first vertically integrated recycler of end-of-life photovoltaic (PV) solar panels in North America, expanded its headquarters in Yuma, Arizona. This expanded capacity enables the company to tackle the growing environmental challenge of solar panel waste.
“We believe that sustainability in the American energy value chain can only be realized by empowering solar asset owners with a means of harnessing the economic value of their end-of-life panels,” said AJ Orben, vice president of We Recycle Solar. “Our vertically-integrated capabilities, including our full-scale Yuma operation, aim to maximize resource value for all solar chain participants and ultimately position us to incentivize and serve major large-scale businesses for the greatest possible impact.”
PV solar panels last around 25 to 30 years, which means that the solar panels first installed are starting to reach the end of their useful life. In 2016, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimated that cumulative solar panel waste volume would reach up to 1 million tons globally by 2030, and 78 million tons by 2050, based on an average PV lifespan of 30 years. However, as early solar panel replacement becomes more and more widespread, discarded solar panels are flooding U.S. landfills — where they can contaminate soil and groundwater with toxic heavy metals and carcinogens including arsenic, lead and cadmium — at rates that far outpace previous forecasts.
Founded in August 2019 by a team of infrastructure and environmental entrepreneurs, We Recycle Solar aims to address this challenge. The company removes, decommissions, and recycles solar panels, recovering valuable materials, such as aluminum, copper, and other materials. It is currently the U.S.’s only solar recycler fully permitted by the federal EPA to handle hazardous secondary materials generated by solar panels.
Since it’s launch, We Recycle Solar has recycled or remarketed more than 500,000 end-of-life solar panels, diverting 23 million lbs of hazardous solar panel waste from landfills.
With the addition of new lines of machinery and enhanced technology, the company’s full-scale PV recycling plant is able to process panels of every make and model, from any manufacturer, including those that are severely damaged, at a rate of up to 10 panels per minute. In a single day, the facility has the capacity to process 7,500 modules (or 345,000 lbs) for recycling and reuse and can process up to 69 million lbs per year — the weight of roughly 700 Boeing 737 commercial jets.
“Cumulative solar waste is an enormous environmental issue facing our planet, and it could be up to fifty times bigger, and get here five years sooner than previously expected,” said Adam Saghei, CEO of We Recycle Solar. “We’ve not only increased processing speed and volume capacity enough to tackle roughly 25% of the current national need for recycling — we’ve also expanded our specialized solar handling teams, resulting in a breakage reduction of up to 30 percent at the time of decommissioning, which significantly increases the amount of PV panels we’re able to repurpose for the resale market.”
The company has plans to quadruple capacity to 522 million lbs per year by 2028.