The modern solar panels are built to last under extreme weather conditions of heat, rain, wind, and hail. These are tested to survive decades of weathering and tearing. That durability built for lasting efficacy becomes the same problem when they are removed: a product designed to remain sturdy against weather is difficult and expensive to pull apart.
Australia will face this problem sooner than many countries. About one in three households has rooftop solar, according to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). Approximately 50 million panels are expected to generate around one million tons of solar panel waste by 2035, DCCEEW estimates. The Australian Government reported in January 2026 that only 17 percent of discarded panels were being recycled.
Why Solar Panels Are Difficult to Recycle
A crystalline-silicon module contains glass, silicon cells, polymer encapsulants, an aluminum frame, wiring, solder, and small quantities of silver. Most can be recovered. The difficulty lies in separating them cleanly enough for reuse.
More than 85 percent of a module’s mass consists of familiar recyclable materials such as glass and aluminum, according to the US Department of Energy. The International Energy Agency’s Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA-PVPS) reports that existing facilities can recover 80 percent to more than 95 percent of panel materials by mass.
Recovery by weight does not tell the whole story. Glass accounts for most of a panel’s mass but may be suitable only for lower-value uses after crushing. Silver and high-purity silicon are present in smaller quantities, yet they carry much of the recoverable value. IEA-PVPS research identifies the recovery of these materials as essential to making advanced recycling more economical.
The frame and junction box can be removed mechanically. The laminate is harder. Shredding can mix glass, polymers, metals, and silicon into lower-quality streams. Selective processes use heat, chemicals, or mechanical separation to recover cleaner materials.
UNSW researchers, supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, have investigated separation, delamination, and metal-leaching processes. The challenge is separating panel layers without excessive energy, chemicals, labor, and cost. ARENA estimated recycling at US$15 to US$45 per panel, compared with roughly US$1 to US$3 for industrial landfill in Australia.
Does Every Removed Panel Need Recycling?
Solar panels usually have a performance warranty of about 25-30 years, but they may be suspended earlier than their expected cycle of life. Numerous external factors like storm damage, component failure, systems upgrades, or repowering solar farms with more efficient modules may take these working panels out of service.
If a panel remains safe and productive, testing, repair, or reuse may retain more value than immediately reducing it to raw materials. Checks should cover insulation, output, hot spots, moisture, connectors, and structural defects. Test results and expected performance should follow the panel into its next installation.
Reuse is not automatically the best option. Older panels provide fewer watts per square meter and may require more land, mounting equipment, and wiring for the same capacity. Transport and repair add costs and environmental impacts. An IEA-PVPS life-cycle study found that extending a panel’s service life can be beneficial under the right conditions, depending on its remaining life, performance, repair needs, and location.
Australia Needs More Than Recycling Plants
Australia’s solar panels are spread across rooftops, businesses, farms, and remote communities. A facility may process panels efficiently while struggling to collect enough at a viable cost. Collection, storage, testing, and transport are part of the engineering problem.
The Australian Government announced a A$24.7 million national pilot to collect up to 250,000 panels from around 100 sites and gather data on transport and processing costs. The Productivity Commission has also recommended a national product stewardship scheme for small-scale solar PV systems. This would make manufacturers, importers, and sellers share responsibility for products at the end of their lives.
The rollout has faced delays. In July 2026, RenewEconomy reported that procurement for the pilot administrator had been suspended while a complaint was investigated. DCCEEW said the government remained committed to the program, although no revised start date had been provided at the time.
Can Solar Avoid a Waste Crisis?
Yes, but the solution begins before a panel reaches a recycling plant. Manufacturers can reduce difficult materials, design components for repair and separation, and provide records that identify a panel’s composition. Installers can plan for decommissioning. Recyclers can focus on the quality and destination of recovered materials instead of reporting recovery by weight alone.
Product stewardship and clear national standards could narrow the cost gap between recycling and landfill, provide processors with a reliable supply of panels, and determine which modules should be reused or dismantled. Delivering this system will require electrical engineers to develop testing and decommissioning procedures, mechanical and chemical engineers to improve material recovery, and civil, logistics, and data specialists to build the supporting collection network.
Solar power’s waste problem does not erase its role in the energy transition. It shows why engineering decisions must account for an asset’s full life, including what happens after it stops producing electricity.
Challenges such as this also show why applied engineering education matters. EIT’s renewable energy study area connects technical knowledge with practical energy-system problems, helping students and working professionals strengthen the systems thinking needed beyond generation alone. The solar panels being installed today will remain on rooftops for decades. Their afterlife should be designed now rather than left for the next generation of engineering professionals to improvise.
References
Solar Panels: National Solar Panel Recycling Pilot
Labor Pilots National Solar Panel Recycling Program
Reducing Waste from Solar Modules Before They Are Made
Circular Economy in Photovoltaics
Advances in Photovoltaic Module Recycling
Low-Cost Recycling Technology for Solar PV
Environmental and Financial Viability of Reusing Solar Panels
Australia’s Circular Economy: Unlocking the Opportunities
Australia’s Solar PV Recycling Pilot Suspended
EIT Renewable Energy Study Area
This article was published September 8th, 2026 and the content is current as at the date of publication.
