Materials

The front glass of a solar module serves to protect the cells from environmental influences and accounts for around 70% of the total mass. Through our patented recycling process, we recover the glass in high purity to be used as container glass with the goal to reach solar glass quality later on.

Aluminum is found in solar panels primarily in the frame and accounts for about 15% of the mass. We feed the recovered aluminum to large aluminum smelters. This saves about 95% energy compared to newly recovered aluminum.

Silicon is the technical heart of a solar panel. It converts the radiant energy of sunlight into electricity through the photoelectric effect. The silicon we recover is processed into pure silicon by our partner Circular Silicon.

Silver makes up only about 0.1% of the total mass of the solar panel but is the most valuable raw material inside a solar panel. It is located on the front and back of solar cells and serves there as an electrical conductor. After recycling, the silver can be purified and used again for technical applications.

The busbars and the connecting cables of a solar panel contain 1% copper by mass. Like most metals, copper can be 100% recycled. New cables or conductors can be made from the recovered copper.

Various plastics are processed in solar panels. The most used plastics are EVA and PVF. In general, plastics make up about 9% of the total mass. Plastics are generally difficult to recycle, but we are always looking for new uses that are far from thermal recycling (incineration).