Page 8 from: Recycling International – March/April issue 2023

8

‘Without volume, how
can we recycle more?’
If there is one phrase in the air these days, it’s electronic scrap. Even so, the niche

market of PV panels doesn’t get much attention, observes Jan Clyncke, managing

director of non-profit compliance scheme PV Cycle. Recycling, he asserts, is a

numbers game. ‘We would love to scale up operations but our members lack the

necessary tonnes to do so.’ He discusses this frustrating ‘chicken-and-the-egg’ sce-

nario with Recycling International.

ed installed PV capacity. It would
make no sense to extend our focus
there just yet.’
We started with a small but great
team of three people with a lot of
technical know-how between them.
We currently employ around 50 peo-
ple across Europe.

ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH HOW PV
MODULES ARE BEING RECYCLED?
‘Current technology is quite good and
I’m satisfied with the output rate,
which is at around 95%. Most material
is going for energy recovery with only
a small portion being mechanically
recycled. What is really hurting the
industry is a lack of tonnes. If we had
a guarantee of, say, at least 30 000
tonnes a year that could grow to
around 50 000 tonnes by 2030, that
would be great. But we’ve got maybe
1 000 tonnes being processed in
Germany, another 3 000 or 4 000 in
Belgium and France. The volumes are
a drop in the ocean compared to con-
sumer e-scrap figures.’

WHAT’S THE BALANCE BETWEEN
THE AMOUNT OF END-OF-LIFE
MATERIAL BEING GENERATED
AND PROCESSED EACH YEAR?
‘Europe had 15 million tonnes of
installed capacity in 2022 and I can’t
overstate that what we’re processing
at the moment is peanuts. It doesn’t
help that some countries investing in
renewable energy gravitate more
towards wind turbines, as this further
shrinks our potential scrap stream.
Putin’s antics are driving growth again
and you often see recycling markets
react to geopolitical pressure. It’s the
same with the energy crisis. But we’ll
have to wait patiently before the
installed PV material reaches end-of-
life stage.’

WHICH COUNTRIES ARE FRONT-
RUNNERS IN TERMS OF PV RECY-
CLING AND WHY?
‘The short answer is Belgium and
France. Both have a good approach
with a nationwide recycling scheme
and clear legal framework. Their
authorities meet recyclers regularly
and the government has established

HOW DO YOU LOOK BACK ON
2022?
‘I’m very satisfied. We hit a new
record by processing roughly 10 000
tonnes last year and it’s a meaningful
step forward. But let’s not forget
we’re talking about a product stream
with a lifecycle of up to 20 years and
some new models have an even lon-
ger life. Solar panels are still a matur-
ing market, with little coming to recy-
clers.’

WHAT TARGETS HAVE YOU SET
FOR 2023 AND BEYOND?
‘We want to reinvent ourselves. Our
team is planning to launch a fun and
comprehensive video series to educate
people about PV module best practic-
es, what’s inside a panel, how can it be
dismantled, who is involved and so on.
Another main objective is to help
establish a reuse standard for PV pan-
els. Right now, they can be sold as
second-hand panels without any offi-
cial safety or quality check. This is not
responsible because a complex prod-
uct needs proper guidelines.
Beyond that, we’re lobbying EU legis-
lators for the existing WEEE Directive
to establish targets specifically for our
industry. Independent extended pro-
ducer responsibility rules for PV mod-
ules would be an ideal addition and
we’ve just written a position paper
with recommendations.’

HOW FAR IS YOUR REACH?
‘We have around 900 members of all
types, some are individual installers,
some are medium-sized family busi-
nesses and others are large, commer-
cial companies. We’re active in the EU
27 (plus UK) region but we don’t have
a presence in every state. An example
is Lithuania, which only has very limit-

A U T H O R Kirstin Linnenkoper

‘Many small
players are all
eating crumbs
from the same
cake.’

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