Humans are insatiable in their consumption of materials. It is estimated that in 2020, 100 billion tons of materials were excavated from the earth, and only 8.6% of them were recycled and used economically. Therefore, e-waste is the fastest growing waste stream on the planet. In 2019, 53.5 million tons of e-waste were generated worldwide.
Photovoltaic panel recycling pipeline Giraffe Innovation, a sustainable development consultancy, and Swansea University jointly produced a report showing that in 2019, the UK generated 1.6 million tons of e-waste, of which 379,000 kilograms of key materials were estimated, with a potential value of £148 million. Due to the lack of recycling infrastructure, poor scrap design and low recycling efficiency, most of the key materials contained in the waste will be lost. The same is true for photovoltaic panels: billions of solar panels around the world will soon face scrapping, but when they are scrapped, many important raw materials are also discarded, and these materials can be used to produce new panels in the future after secondary processing.
Photovoltaic panel recycling line It is estimated that by 2050, the scrap volume of solar panels will reach 78 million tons, which can make about 4 billion panels. However, the design of these panels cannot easily extract and reuse the elements in them, so most of the panels are likely to be shredded when recycled. This method pollutes the material and makes it difficult to recycle. Therefore, it is important to have an assembly line that can easily extract the comprehensive utilization of the raw materials of photovoltaic panels so that they can be reused in new products to avoid waste. In the past, there was no complete and mature photovoltaic panel disposal assembly line in the market, but commissioned by American users, we have gone through a process of practical operation. Now the photovoltaic panel disposal assembly line can show the value of turning waste into treasure, and can achieve the separation of copper, silver, and silicon metals, and the separation of plastics, glass and frames.
