Module Recycling
Dismantling, material recovery and policy for end-of-life PV modules
Articles
- The First PV Modules Are Retiring. What Happens Next?The first PV modules installed around 2000 are reaching their 25-year design life. How are old modules taken apart, are they worth anything, and where does the industry stand? Drawing on IRENA''s 2026 report, HJ 1463-2026 and China''s six-department guidance on module utilisation, we look at the state, market and outlook of PV module recycling.
- Can Thermoplastic Encapsulants Rescue Recyclability? The Standards Tug-of-War between Creep Resistance and DismantlingWith the EU WEEE revision and the Circular Economy Act approaching, the bar for PV exports is shifting from 'can it be collected' to 'can it be taken apart'. Today's 85% target is weight-based: glass plus the aluminium frame nearly meet it, while hard-to-recover silver and high-purity silicon are not measured at all. We unpack three technical bottlenecks: crosslinked EVA/POE encapsulants that resist delamination, fluorinated backsheets that release HF during pyrolysis, and non-crosslinked TPO encapsulants that separate easily but must pass the IEC 61730-2 MST 37 creep test. Creep resistance and recyclability are fighting over the same temperature window.