We exist<\/p>\n
The industry has been pushing for years for policies around recycling and stewardship, and frustration boiled over last week when a story in The Australia suggested even the federal environment and energy department doesn\u2019t think solar recycling is possible<\/a>.<\/p>\n The newspaper quotes Tehan saying this proves \u201csolar panels are not renewable\u201d and that the issue of solar panel disposal threatened to \u201cbecome a huge problem for Australia into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll these panels are made overseas using materials which will not recycle,\u201d Tehan said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the government has to front up and tell Australians what they\u2019re going to do with the huge waste that we\u2019re going to be left with from these overseas-produced and manufactured solar panels.\u201d<\/p>\n And yet last year the federal government started work on a stewardship campaign which seeks to mandate this process<\/a> and last month put $24.7 million into a 100-site recycling pilot. Queensland backed a recycling pilot in 2024<\/a>. <\/p>\n Hill invited Tehan, and other politicians, to visit and see what people \u201care doing in the real world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAustralia invented the solar panel, and we\u2019ve invented the technology to recycle,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Secret tech<\/p>\n The machine scans a panel in \u2013 provided it\u2019s flat; if not, human-power gives it a helping hand \u2013 and logs every detail from brand through to wattage and chemistry and provides a traceability \u201cpassport\u201d for the final materials.<\/p>\n The machine then strips the panel of the junction box, aluminium frame and glass, and sends the remaining silicon and plastic back sheet with all of the valuable metals such as copper, silver and antimony into a grinder.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s at this point where Hill becomes a bit cagey, because this bit of process comes with a cloak of secrecy.<\/p>\n The overview is that the ground-up pieces of silicon and backsheet go into an electrostatic separator that divides each material by its individual electrostatic charge. These are further cleaned in a vibrating device that sorts each piece by gravity.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMost people think heavy things come out the bottom when you talk about gravity, but our copper comes out the middle, our silicon goes out the top, and plastics go out the bottom,\u201d Hill says.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe way the machine essentially works is it vibrates and so the heavy material will actually climb.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s [about] getting those angles and getting those air flows and vibrations just right so it climbs out clean.\u201d<\/p>\n Then it\u2019s into a chemical bath \u2013 another trade secret because they can reuse almost all of the chemical \u2013 to do a final clean and separation of the metals and materials in the plastic backing.\u00a0<\/p>\n The machine needs about 300,000 panels each year to make it worthwhile to run. <\/p>\n Moving offshore<\/p>\n Expansion plans are afoot, according to Hill.<\/p>\n He says they\u2019re signing a memorandum of understanding with a company in Belgium to licence the tech, and talking to a company in the UAE \u2013 negotiations currently held up by a lack of flights out of the Middle East right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pan Pacific already has five plants licensed and operational in New Zealand which are handling electric vehicle (EV) recycling \u2013 tweaks to the tech means it can test and repackage lithium batteries so it only recycles the parts that need to be.<\/p>\n In Australia, the company wants to have a plant in Western Australia possibly by the end of 2026, and there are looser plans for one in South Australia, two in New South Wales and another one in Queensland.\u00a0<\/p>\n Victoria\u2019s no-landfill rule is working against Pan Pacific right now, Hill says, because companies that just crush up panels rather than actually separate and recover the different materials can do this rough-and-ready work much more cheaply.\u00a0<\/p>\n Each machine needs a minimum of 300,000 panels a year, which rules out Tasmania for now as it doesn\u2019t have the supply.\u00a0<\/p>\n That supply rate also means the upcoming $25 million national stewardship pilot, which will collect and recycle up to 250,000 panels over a 12-to-18-month period starting mid-way through this year, vastly underestimates the volume of supply Hill is expecting with his expansion plans.<\/p>\n \u201cWe welcome the stewardship pilot, but I think they have underestimated the numbers that are there\u2026. Considerably,\u201d Hill says. <\/p>\n If you would like to join more than 29,000 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, please\u00a0click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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