PVcycle / Soren : recyclage des panneaux solaires

[energy_isere]

Énergie solaire : les trois quarts des panneaux photovoltaïques désinstallés en France en 2024 ont été collectés et recyclés
L'an dernier, l'éco-organisme Soren a collecté 9 361 tonnes de panneaux en fin de vie.

franceinfo le 28/03/2025

Les trois quarts des panneaux photovoltaïques désinstallés en France en 2024 (77%) ont été collectés pour être recyclés, selon les chiffres obtenus par France Inter vendredi 28 mars auprès de Soren, l'éco-organisme chargé de la collecte et du recyclage des panneaux photovoltaïques usagés, agréé par les pouvoirs publics.

L'an dernier, l'éco-organisme a collecté 9 361 tonnes de panneaux en fin de vie, soit 77% de ceux qui ont été désinstallés. À titre de comparaison, en 2023, 5 407 tonnes avaient été collectées, soit 54% des panneaux désinstallés. Près de 400 000 tonnes de panneaux ont été mis sur le marché l'an dernier (398 393 tonnes), contre 333 821 tonnes en 2023. L'objectif fixé par l'Union européenne est de collecter 85% des panneaux photovoltaïques usagés. Si cet objectif n'est pas encore atteint, c'est que près de 30% des volumes échappent à l'éco-organisme. Selon Nicolas Defrenne, le directeur général de Soren, ces "30% partent dans des filières notamment d'export vers l'étranger".

Plus de 90% de recyclage

Les panneaux photovoltaïques sont collectés dans des points d'apport volontaire. Quatre sites de recyclage existent en France : près de Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse et Grenoble. Selon Nicolas Defrenne, le taux de recyclage se situe "entre 93 et 94%", c'est "extrêmement performant". On recycle essentiellement du verre, de l’aluminium, du plastique, mais aussi les métaux critiques comme le silicium, l’argent, le cuivre ou encore l’aluminium.

Soren précise encore qu'il y a de plus en plus de petites annonces sur les sites de ventes de particuliers à particuliers pour des panneaux photovoltaïques d'occasion. Mais l'éco-organisme chargé de la collecte et du recyclage des panneaux photovoltaïques usagés met en garde. On trouve de tout : du sérieux, mais aussi des arnaques. La filière de recyclage et de réemploi demande donc que le marché soit davantage structuré.

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/environneme ... 56644.html

[energy_isere]

More solar panel recycling capacity for Greece

Kirstin Linnenkoper – June 6, 2025

Katheris S.A. has completed the first solar panel recycling line on the Greek islands. The shredding solution is now running in Heraklion, Crete.
Greece is facing a growing volume of photovoltaic (PV) waste. Building solar panel recycling capacity is a must, according to Katheris S.A., which is headquartered on Crete. The popular Greek island is home to around 625 000 people relying for 25% on solar energy.

While solar power is still catching up to European leaders, such as the Netherlands and Germany, Greece has been ramping up its energy capacity in recent years. At the end of 2024, the country’s total installed capacity was at 9.6 GW – double the capacity compared to 2022.

Sorting PV scrap
The new recycling system centres on a shredding and sorting process that carefully separates materials such as glass, aluminium, silver, crystalline silicon and copper.

‘Our aim is to initiate the public into the mentality of recycling, to sensitise our fellow citizens and to make recycling and the protection of the environment a way of life,’ the recycler says.

Katheris has been operating since 1979 and specialises in metal recycling, also offering car recycling services. It also operates branch offices in the Heraklion Industrial Area, Vlichia, and Rethymno.

https://recyclinginternational.com/busi ... ece/61053/

[energy_isere]

Soren affiche un bond historique de la collecte de panneaux photovoltaïques
L’éco-organisme Soren, qui fête ses 10 ans d’activité, a présenté son bilan 2024 la semaine dernière à la presse. La collecte a bondi de 82 % par rapport à 2023 : une croissance qui devrait logiquement se poursuivre au fur et à mesure des années à venir et que Soren anticipe dans son modèle d’affaires.

juin 17, 2025 Marie Beyer

L’éco-organisme Soren en charge de la collecte et du traitement des panneaux photovoltaïques usagés en France a présenté un bilan 2024 marqué par une nette accélération de son activité. Au total, 9 477 tonnes de panneaux ont été collectées sur l’année, soit une hausse de 82 % par rapport à 2023. Une progression spectaculaire pour une filière encore balbutiante il y a une décennie : en 2015, seuls 366 tonnes avaient été prises en charge.

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https://www.pv-magazine.fr/2025/06/17/s ... oltaiques/

[energy_isere]

Recyclage de panneaux solaire en Grèce, une première ligne de recyclage :

More solar panel recycling capacity for Greece

Kirstin Linnenkoper – June 6, 2025

Katheris S.A. has completed the first solar panel recycling line on the Greek islands. The shredding solution is now running in Heraklion, Crete.
Greece is facing a growing volume of photovoltaic (PV) waste. Building solar panel recycling capacity is a must, according to Katheris S.A., which is headquartered on Crete. The popular Greek island is home to around 625 000 people relying for 25% on solar energy.

While solar power is still catching up to European leaders, such as the Netherlands and Germany, Greece has been ramping up its energy capacity in recent years. At the end of 2024, the country’s total installed capacity was at 9.6 GW – double the capacity compared to 2022.

Sorting PV scrap
The new recycling system centres on a shredding and sorting process that carefully separates materials such as glass, aluminium, silver, crystalline silicon and copper.

‘Our aim is to initiate the public into the mentality of recycling, to sensitise our fellow citizens and to make recycling and the protection of the environment a way of life,’ the recycler says.

Katheris has been operating since 1979 and specialises in metal recycling, also offering car recycling services. It also operates branch offices in the Heraklion Industrial Area, Vlichia, and Rethymno.

https://recyclinginternational.com/busi ... ece/61053/

[energy_isere]

BFTMV au cœur d'une usine de recyclage de panneaux solaires
En France, 80 millions de panneaux solaires fournissent environ 5% de notre électricité. Seuls cinq sites en France permettent de séparer tous les éléments de ces panneaux.

courte vidéo : https://www.bfmtv.com/environnement/cli ... 80042.html

[energy_isere]

New process achieves 97% silver recovery from end-of-life solar panels
Australian researchers have developed a new separation technique that employs the same crushing and flotation principles used in mineral processing to recover more than 97% of silver from end-of-life solar panels.

January 6, 2026 David Carroll

A research team at the University of Newcastle has shown that almost all of the silver inside end-of-life solar panels can be recovered in minutes using an acid-free mechanical process that relies on the same principles used in mineral processing.

Current approaches to silver recovery from end-of-life PV modules are dominated by acid leaching. While effective, the researchers said these approaches impose “substantial reagent and waste burdens that impede large-scale deployment.”

The new method combines comminution – where the panels are mechanically crushed and ground into fine particles – followed by froth flotation, a separation technique that uses water, air bubbles and a small amount of standard floatation reagents to float valuable metals to the surface while waste materials sink.

Lead researcher Associate Prof. Mahshid Firouzi, from the University of Newcastle’s Centre for Critical Minerals and Urban Mining, said the work presents, for the first time, the application of froth flotation as an upstream selective recovery step for extracting metallic silver from end-of-life PV modules.

“While froth flotation is widely used in mining to separate valuable minerals from ore, this is, to our knowledge, the first demonstration of froth flotation for recovery of metallic silver from recycled, ground solar panels, something many in the field believed was not feasible,” she said.

Firouzi said the approach reduces chemical intensity and waste generation, and improves overall process efficiency with results, published at ChemRxiv, showing the application of froth flotation using tap water delivered 97.6% silver recovery within about three minutes.


Image: University of Newcastle

The researchers said the results demonstrate a “viable beneficiation route for critical-material recovery from secondary resources, supporting circular-economy objectives with lower reagent intensity and smaller processing footprint.”

They also noted that leveraging this waste stream offers a potential avenue to address the ongoing supply-demand imbalance in the silver market.

The Australian Energy Council has projected global solar panel waste will reach 60-78 million tonnes by 2050, with more than one million tonnes of waste panels expected in Australia, containing an estimated 300–500 tonnes of silver. Each panel contains about 20 grams of silver, currently priced at AUD 3.66 ($2.46)/gram.

Firouzi said silver was only the starting point with the research team also investigating the recovery of silicon from end-of-life PV panels.

“Silver was our first test case, but there are likely significant opportunities to apply comminution, flotation science and hydrodynamic techniques to unlock billions of dollars’ worth of other metals and minerals currently trapped in urban and mining waste,” she said. “We cannot afford to let these valuable resources go to waste.”

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/01/06/ ... ar-panels/