Comstock Metals - Comprehensive Solar Panel Recycling Solution

Environmental & Human Health Risk:

• An estimated 90% of discarded solar PV panels have been going to landfills.
• Leachate from discarded solar panels are a risk to public health and the environment.
• Some disposal methods still result in harmful materials going back into industrial reuse after destruction.

Recycling Standards in Development:

• The EPA, individual states, and the solar industry are working at various levels to develop effective standards for end-of-life solar panel management. 
• Going above and beyond these requirements, we believe in providing a safe and reliable solution that protects public health, ends the practice of sending panels to landfills, and helps industry fulfil their objective of mitigating hazardous material risks. 

Demand for Solar Panel Recycling Capacity:

• There is simply not enough industrial scale solar panel recycling capacity to meet the volume of solar waste generated. 
• Existing disposal costs are and will continue to be historically uneconomic at large volumes.
• Increasingly solar generators seek a full-service end-of-life partner that can also efficiently manage decommissioning and transportation. 

Sufficiency:

• Providing a full-service, closed-loop solution that can process any type of PV panel.
• Ensuring no part of the solar panel goes to a landfill during the recycling process. 
• Mitigating legacy liability issues and adhering to the best end of life practices. 
• Ensuring sufficient solar panel recycling capacity to meet fast-growing demand as more solar panels reach the end of their useful life. 

Costs & Full-Services:

• Tipping fees are charged when solar panels are delivered. 
• Competitive or better than current disposal fees are based on customer waste profiles. 
• Cost-competitive decommissioning and transportation services are available to meet full-service demand. 

Compliance & Environmental Certainty:

• Providing transparent audit and compliance documentation.
• 100% recovery means 1) we are eliminating all of the potential contaminates from glue and plastics as Step 1 before material recovery and reuse, and 2) we recycle 100% of recoverable material from each solar panel we receive, with no part of the panel going to a landfill in our process.

The U.S. is on track to see 1 million metric tons of solar photovoltaic panels reach the end of their useful life by 2030 and an estimated 7.5 million to 10 million metric tons by 2050.

To put that into perspective, in the U.S. that’s roughly 33 million end-of-life solar panels by 2030 and between 247 million to 330 million panels by 2050.

It would take approximately 1008 football fields to hold the number of decommissioned solar panels expected in the market by 2030.

Process: Manual or mechanical disassembly, sending all or parts of panels to landfills, and inefficiencies in these kinds of methods of “recycling” can mean “re-purposed” materials may still contain potentially harmful hazardous materials. 

• In the Comstock Metals recycling process, we recover 100% of the recoverable materials from every solar panel we receive, while safely eliminating potential contaminates found in glue and plastic laminates before material recovery, and ensuring no part of the solar panel we receive goes to a landfill during our process. 
• Today that material is glass pearls, aluminum flakes, and metal fines, containing 0% glue or plastic laminates. 
• Fees and Services: Regardless of the destination, tipping fees are charged to dispose of end-of-life panels. 
  • The Comstock Metals’ full-service facility is located in Silver Springs, NV.  
    • We charge tipping fees upon receipt, which are competitive compared to current disposal methods.  
    • We also offer full-service end-of-life management from panel decommissioning at the project site and can manage transportation from your project to our facility at competitive rates.