The first generation of solar panels will wear out. A recycling industry is taking shape

By ISABELLA O’MALLEY
Associated Press

The largest solar panel recycling plant in North America has opened in Yuma, Arizona, just as the flow of used and spent solar panels sharply ramps up. We Recycle Solar can process 345,000 pounds of modules in a single day, or roughly 69 million pounds per year. The business sends about 60% of the panels for resale and reuse, and strips apart and repurpose the valuable materials like copper and aluminum. Some of the used panels are sold out of a shop in Puerto Rico, where the grid was destroyed by back-to-back hurricanes Maria and Irma. The goal is to address an “anticipated tsunami” of solar waste and keep it out of landfills. The company also employs a trained crew that goes out and dismantles solar farms and brings the panels back intact.