Report alleges U.S. solar recycling is mostly landfilling, offshoring in disguise

A new report raises questions about what actually happens to old solar panels once they're taken out of service in the U.S. According to the research firm behind it, about 90% of retired panels are sent straight to landfills, mostly because dumping them is cheaper than recycling. Of the small share that do go to recyclers, the report claims much of the material is shredded and shipped overseas, mainly to a South Korea-based company's smelting plant, rather than being fully processed into reusable material here at home. The report calls this pattern "camouflaging" — disposal dressed up as recycling.

The report names one company, Nevada-based Comstock Metals, as the only U.S. facility it found that meets its standard for certified, zero-landfill domestic processing, and also credits First Solar's in-house recycling program for its own panels. One of the companies named, Solarcycle, pushed back, saying it diverts 100% of panel material from landfills and recovers high value from it, though it does send a portion abroad for final refining because no large-scale refineries exist in the U.S. yet. It noted that the Korean company in question plans to open a refinery in Tennessee by 2029.

For homeowners, this isn't an immediate action item — it doesn't affect existing rebates or incentives for installing solar. But it's worth knowing as background: if you have panels now or are considering them, what happens to them decades from now, when they're replaced or retired, is still an unsettled part of the industry, with real differences in how "recycled" panels are actually handled.