Abstract
More than 78 million tons of photovoltaic modules (PVMs) will reach their end of life (EOL) by 2050. If they are not responsibly managed, they can (a) pollute our terrestrial ecosystem, (b) indirectly encourage continuous mining and extraction of Earth’s finite resources, and (c) diminish the net environmental benefit of harvesting solar energy. Conversely, successfully recovering them could reduce resource extraction and waste and generate sufficient economic return and value to finance the production of another 2 billion PVMs by 2050. Therefore, EOL PVMs must participate in the circular economy, and business and political leaders are actively devising strategies to enable their participation. This article aims to facilitate and expedite their efforts by comprehensively reviewing and presenting the latest progress and developments in EOL PVM recovery methods and processes. It also identifies and thoroughly discusses several interrelated observations that impede or accelerate their efforts. Overall, our approach to this article differs but synergistically complements and builds upon existing life cycle assessment-based (LCA-based) contributions.
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