U.S. Solar Panel ‘Recycling’ Is Mostly Landfilling, Offshoring, and Disposal in Disguise, a New White Paper from Sustainable Source Studios Finds
Sustainable Source Studios (S3), an independent sustainability research and strategy practice, today announced the publication of its white paper “SOLAR RECYCLING REALITY — Millions of Old Panels Are Being Replaced. Where Does This Hazardous Waste Actually Go?” — a market survey of U.S. solar panel end-of-life practices. The paper’s central finding: almost none of what the United States calls “solar recycling” is closed-loop recovery. The dominant pathways, the paper concludes, are landfilling, offshoring, and what the author terms “camouflaging” — disposal disguised as recycling.
