Overall, the period from 2008 to 2023 saw the U.S. solar capacity grow from 0.34 GW to 137.73 GW, highlighting the sector's substantial expansion and its critical role in the nation's energy landscape. But a problem emerged in the early 2020's as the volume of end-of-life panels began to increase: what to do with millions of panels?
As utility-scale solar owners and operators, you know your volume of end-of-life panels generated due to weather, early replacement, life expectancy, or annual maintenance is a significant part of your supply chain. It can be a challenge without a responsible partner who can match your capacity needs.
The volume of end-of-life panels in the United States (U.S.) overall is also rising fast collectively. So this isn't just one company's challenge—over 33 million panels will be in need of a responsible retirement by 2030, and over 230 million panels by 2050.
More and more solar industry leaders and regulators are waking up to the reality that it isn't a sustainable practice for even one panel or their disassembled parts to wind up in landfills, or to sit in stockpiles or end up in downstream use with contaminants when theycontain toxic materials like cadmium, lead, and volatile compounds harmful to people and the environment.
Historically and still today many panels still get sent overseas (as waste), are sent to landfills (in states which still allow it), and are still mechanically crushed or chemically washed (by non-thermal recyclers), creating stockpiles of plastics with no market or metal and glass with contaminants winding up in downstream, inappropriate and unsafe uses, such as concrete, where the contaminants remain a risk to people and the environment.
A major environmental, reputational, and regulatory risk most solar manufacturers, developers, and project operators, as well as government regulators and communities do not want take, and finally do not have to.
→ Which is why at Comstock Metals we've innovated a unique thermal recycling process that eliminates these contaminants and materials upfront, pre-separation—before anything enters the recycling stream--and nothing is going to a landfill.
→ That means 100% of usable materials are recovered safely, and clean aluminum flakes, glass pearls, and metals fines can go back into safe industrial reuse.
→ We’re helping project owners stay ahead of policy, build trust in communities, reduce their liability, sleep better at night, and meet sustainability goals with real accountability and transparency.
Working together to ensure your solar supply chain is closed-loop and truly sustainable is just a smart recycling decision. It’s good stewardship and creates a cleaner and more resilient energy system.
Gerold, E.; Antrekowitsch, H. Advancements and Challenges in Photovoltaic Cell Recycling: A Comprehensive Review. Sustainability 2024, 16, 2542. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16062542
Sica, D.; Malandrino, O.; Supino, S.; Testa, M.; Lucchetti, M.C. Management of end-of-life photovoltaic panels as a step towards a circular economy. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2018, 82, 2934–2945
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. End-of-Life Solar Panels: Regulations and Management. Retrieved April 18, 2025, from https://www.epa.gov/hw/end-life-solar-panels-regulations-and-management
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Landfills (US EPA)
450,000 Metric Ton Landfill Diverted Estimate: Based on a composite analysis using publicly available data from EnergySage, Union of Concerned Scientists, Fthenakis (2000), Choi et al. (2017), and Wang et al. (2011). And from company data (April, 2025). Assumes average panel weight of 20 kg, with 8% by weight composed of polymeric adhesives and backsheets, 1% VOCs, for a 9% total mass burn-off through thermal pre-separation, and 100% clean recovery and reuse of remaining materials. Full references: