Arya News - The typical lifespan of a solar panel is around 20 to 30 years, and it is estimated that 500,000 to 800,000 tons of these per year will have to be disposed of from the latter half of the 2030s.
FUKUSHIMA – An attempt to recycle the tempered glass that protects solar panels has begun in Fukushima Prefecture.
The number of solar panels that will have to be disposed of when they reach the end of their lifespan is set to drastically increase in Japan. A key challenge facing the recycling of solar panels is profitability. Companies in Fukushima Prefecture are working together to establish a method of recycling the protective glass into insulation used in houses.
Solar panels have become widespread across Japan following the start of the Feed-In Tariff system in 2012. Under the system, power companies are obliged to purchase electric power generated by renewable energy at fixed prices.
The typical lifespan of a solar panel is around 20 to 30 years. The Environment Ministry estimates that 500,000 to 800,000 tons of solar panels per year will have to be disposed of from the latter half of the 2030s.
According to statistics by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, as of February 2025 there were 207 solar power plants in Fukushima Prefecture, where there has been a concerted effort to expand the use of renewable energy sources following a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011.
The total annual solar power generation output in the prefecture as of February 2025 was 171.98 million kilowatt-hours, the highest in the nation.
According to the prefectural government’s next-generation industry division, solar panels contain harmful materials, such as lead used to glue parts together. Aside from the aluminum frames and the copper in the electric cables, the remaining parts are disposed of at landfill sites.
As the number of landfill sites is limited, how to more sustainably dispose of the panels is a key issue.
A study council of the prefectural government for discussing environmental and recycling affairs established a working group in March 2023 to consider how to turn the recycling of solar panels into a viable business operation.
As a result, three companies began to work together on the recycling of the protective glass. All three have connections to Fukushima: Takaryo Corp. is based in Minamisoma, Tokyo-based Toshima Glass has plants in Nihonmatsu and other locations in the prefecture and Paramount Glass Mfg. Co. is based in Sukagawa.
The protective glass on a solar panel accounts for about 60% of the total weight but is typically disposed at landfills.
The three companies’ joint project involves crushing the glass into tiny pieces, mixing it with other glass material such as from bottles, melting the mixture in a furnace and then turning it into fibers used in insulation for homes.
By adding one ton of waste glass from the panels into the production of 100 tons of insulation, the companies confirmed there were no issues with the quality of the final product.
However, Paramount Glass Mfg. Co., which is in charge of insulation production, said that waste glass from the panels contain different substances from those in glass bottles, and adjusting ratio of the glass mixture is time consuming. It is therefore difficult to sustainably produce the recycled material in a profitable manner.
The company estimates that the necessary quantity of protective glass for full-scale commercialization is about 100 tons a month.
“We shall further increase the volume of test production and examine the cost and distribution methods,” a company official said.
The company will use one ton of the protective glass a month to establish a sustainable method of producing the insulation.
The prefectural government has begun providing subsidies to four companies recycling the panels, including Takaryo. The subsidy system is for business operators which transport the glass from solar power plants themselves. It aims to assist these companies by helping with the transportation, as recycling the glass is more costly than simply disposing of it.