100% Zero Landfill Solar Panel Recycling
Environmentally superior end-of-life solar panel recycling. Reliable circularity for a truly sustainable solar panel supply chain and solar energy system.
Cost-Competitive.
Full-Service.
Compliant.
Comstock Metals recycles 100% of end-of-life photovoltaic panels we receive, through a unique thermal process that ensures complete elimination of all polymeric materials allowing for the safe and optimized collection of uncontaminated glass and scarce metals for industrial reuse.
- For commercial generators of end-of-life panels – from utilities, O&M groups, and solar consultants and contractors to waste providers and municipalities in the United States.
- We accept all types of solar panels in commercial and industrial-scale volume at our full-service recycling center in Silver Springs, NV.
- We service customers from as far away as Hawaii and Canada, and we offer logistics support and full decommissioning services. We are an all-in partner solution from project permitting and commissioning to certificated end-of-life 100% recycling, throughout the life of your project.
- Connect with us today to learn more about how we can partner to enhance your ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) performance through compliant process transparency, and by reducing uncertainty through our zero-landfill solution.
Reliability
Predictability
Trust
The Problem
Environmental & Human Health Risk:
- An estimated 90% of discarded solar PV panels have been going to landfills.
- Leachate from discarded solar panels are a risk to public health and the environment.
- Some disposal methods still result in harmful materials going back into industrial reuse after destruction.
Lack of a Recycling Standard:
- There are no standardized regulations yet for end-of-life solar panels.
- A lack of continuity in policy results in perpetuating the public health and environmental risks to industry, people, and the environment.
Demand for Solar Panel Recycling Capacity:
- Availability of industrial scale end-of-life solar panel recycling is insufficient: demand in the U.S. is expected to exceed 1 million tons, equal to 3 million + solar panels by 2030, and tens of millions per year by 2050.
- Disposal costs are historically uneconomic and industry-scale owners seek a commercial scale end-of-life partner from permitting and commissioning throughout the life of the project.
The Solution
Sufficiency:
- Recycling 100% of the solar panel and offering services from decommissioning and transport to 100% recycling, ensuring zero-landfill and ending contamination risk.
- Ensuring sufficient recycling capacity, reliability of service, transparent compliance, and affordability.
- Ensuring that recovered materials are free from harmful contaminants prior to reuse.
Cost Reliability:
- Tipping fees are charged when solar panels are delivered.
- Our costs are competitive or better than current disposal fees.
- Based on customer waste profiles.
Compliance & Environmental Certainty:
- Providing transparent audit and compliance documentation.
- Guaranteeing 100% recycling, that no recycled materials go to landfills, and that 100% of contamination risk is eliminated.
- Eliminating plastics through a thermal process, ensuring responsible re-use of recovered materials in the electrification economy.
Exponential Growth in End-of-Life Panels
The U.S. is on track to see 1 million metric tons of solar photovoltaic panels reach the end of their useful life by 2030 and an estimated 7.5 million to 10 million metric tons by 2050.
To put that into perspective, in the U.S. that’s roughly 3.3 million end-of-life solar panels by 2030 and between 247 million to 330 million panels by 2050.
It would take approximately 1008 football fields to hold the number of decommissioned solar panels expected in the market by 2030.
Collective number of football fields it would take to hold as much as 330 million solar panels by 2050:
Football Fields
Manual or mechanical disassembly and landfilling are the status-quo approaches to solar panel disposal today. Regardless of the destination, tipping fees are charged to dispose of panels. Inefficiencies in other methods mean “re-purposed” materials still contain harmful contaminants and heavy metals.
Our facility in Silver Springs, NV directly receives solar PV panel waste for a tipping fee competitive to current disposal methods.
The difference is in our technology-driven solution and our process. We safely eliminate plastic and separate scarce materials at the front end of our process, thus fulfilling our compliant, zero landfill promise. Comstock Metals’ process is the most efficient and truly sustainable solution available today to capture and recover scarce materials for responsible re-use.
Send Us Your Panels
We are currently accepting decommissioned solar panels at our first end-of-life facility in Silver Springs, NV from utilities, O&M (operation & maintenance) groups, solar engineers, consultants, contractors, and municipalities.
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Connect or Request a Quote
Learn more about our full-service solar panel offering and become part of our mission to make solar energy truly green and sustainable. Send us an email today.
- P.O. Box 1118 Virginia City, Nevada 89440
- Recycling Center: 600 Lake Avenue, Silver Springs, NV 89429
- metals@comstockinc.com
