Recycle Solar Technologies Limited

Recycle Solar Offer The Only United Kingdom Based Solar Panel Recycling Service.

With our head offices located in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire we operate in the very heartland of the UK’s rapidly growing renewable energy sector.

A percentage of our profits are reinvested through the supply and installation of new Solar PV products at no cost to UK households.

Cutting down on special photovoltaics (PV) waste is a vital part of environmental protections. Recycle Solar Technologies is committed to supplying the best possible solution by Reducing, Reusing or Recycling solar equipment..

Recycling Solar Panels

Recycle Solar PV (Photovoltaic) Panels

As solar energy becomes a more and more popular green energy source across the UK, we feel that it is increasingly important to provide a viable waste management service for solar panels that have reached the end of their PV life cycle. Without recycling programs and safe disposal methods in place, we are creating a problem for future generations. Recycling renewable technology just makes sense!

Why Recycle Your Solar Panels?

Here we will explain the numerous benefits, both environmentally and economically, of why choosing to recycle your end of life PV panels is the best option to maximise the efficiency of your solar energy system.

Environmental Benefits of Disposal and Recycling Solar Panels

Recycling solar panels has a number of environmental benefits. The first is that it creates a useful and sustainable method of disposing of panels that have reached the end of their useful PV lifespan. Recycling solar panels also provides raw materials for repurposing and reprocessing.

Cost Savings of Recycling Solar Panels

For installers and engineers, the cost of the disposal of panels can add up. Due to the WEEE directive, solar panels are considered a specialist waste product which needs disposing of in a specific way; We can take the unwanted panels (our fees are outlined below), cutting costs throughout the process which can ultimately lead to a less expensive project for the consumer.

Making PV Solar Panel Production Safer

Photovoltaic panels and modules often contain small amounts of environmentally toxic metals and elements (e.g. Lead, Selenium, Cadmium) which, if not carefully disposed of, can create environmental hazards. Recycling can recover up to 90% of the photovoltaic glass and also up to 95% of the semiconductor material necessary for further production.

Ensuring Solar Energy Can Be Sustainable

Another benefit of recycling solar panels is that it creates a more sustainable energy solution. As solar panels become more ubiquitous, there is a danger of some PV materials becoming less and less available. Without recycling, there is no way that we will be able to maintain solar panel production on a grand scale. This will increase the cost of solar panels which will then price them out of the market.

How End of Life PV Panels are Recycled

• PV Solar panels are stripped of their aluminium edging strips and the cable connector block is removed.
• Solar panels are cut shredded into large pieces before being crushed by a hammer mill into pieces typically between 6mm and 10mm. This is to break the laminated surface bond.
• The semiconductor films are removed in a slow rotating leach drum which usually takes around 4–6 hours. Weak sulphuric acid and hydrogen peroxide is added to the glass to achieve an optimal solid-liquid ratio. During this continuous process, the films are stripped from the glass
• All the fragmented glass is separated out from the liquid in a classifier separator.
• The remaining material is then moved to a vibrating screen, separating the glass from the larger laminated pieces (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate EVA pieces). The EVA is moved into another conveyor and collected. The glass then separates and falls through a screen into a chute where it is taken to wash off the corrosive liquids.
• After being washed clean, the glass is moved into containers for recycling and the rinse water is pumped to a precipitation tank for the recovery of metals.
• The collected metal compounds are precipitated in three stages at increasing levels of pH using sodium hydroxide. When the solids have settled and has formed into a dense solid mixture, it is sent off for processing where it can be processed into semiconductor grade raw material for use in new solar modules.

Using these recycling processes 90% of the glass and 95% of the semiconductor materials can be extracted for use in new solar PV panels.