One panel per minute: Solar recycling is going big in Texas

A company called We Recycle Solar plans to open a large solar panel recycling plant outside Dallas in 2027. The facility will process one panel per minute and aims to recover up to 96% of the materials inside each one, including silver, copper, silicon, aluminum, and glass. Unlike most current recycling, which mainly salvages the aluminum frame and glass, this plant is meant to fully process the more valuable materials on-site in the US, rather than shipping partially processed panels overseas for further work.

This matters because most solar panels installed in the US are still decades away from retirement, but the number reaching the end of their life will grow as panels age, get damaged, or get swapped for newer, more efficient models. Right now, recycling a panel often costs more than sending it to a landfill, so better recovery of high-value materials could make recycling more affordable and reduce reliance on newly mined resources. The company says it has already kept more than 1 million panels out of landfills through other recycling and resale work, and it plans to build four more recycling plants around the country over the next four years, though it hasn't said where yet.

For homeowners with solar panels, this doesn't change anything you need to do now. But it points toward more options down the road for responsibly recycling panels once they wear out or get replaced, rather than sending them to a landfill.