What solar panels are made of
A standard crystalline silicon solar panel contains glass (approximately 65–75% of the panel's weight), aluminium frame (around 10%), polymer backsheet and encapsulant, silicon cells, copper wiring, and small quantities of silver (in the cell contacts) and other metals. Some older thin-film panels contain cadmium telluride or copper indium gallium selenide — materials with specific disposal requirements.
The glass and aluminium are straightforwardly recyclable through existing infrastructure. The silicon cells, once separated from the encapsulant, can be processed to recover high-value silicon and silver. The polymer layers are the most problematic component — separating them from the glass requires either thermal or chemical processing.
UK legal framework: WEEE regulations
Solar panels are classified as electrical and electronic equipment under the UK WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations. Producers (manufacturers and importers) are legally responsible for funding the collection and recycling of panels at end of life through a Producer Compliance Scheme.
As a domestic solar panel owner, you are not required to organise or pay for recycling yourself — the producer obligation means that the manufacturer or their compliance scheme must accept panels for recycling free of charge. In practice, this means contacting your original installer or the panel manufacturer to arrange collection when a panel reaches end of life or is removed from a roof.
If your original installer has ceased trading (common for companies that operated during the 2010–2013 government incentive boom), you should contact the panel manufacturer directly. If the manufacturer is also unreachable, the Electrical Compliance Schemes (such as PV Cycle UK) operate a general collection service.
Current UK recycling capacity
The UK's dedicated solar panel recycling capacity is currently limited. Most panels removed from UK roofs are either sent to general WEEE recyclers (who recover the glass and aluminium but may not fully process the cells) or exported to specialist facilities in Germany and the Netherlands, where the first large-scale dedicated solar recycling plants operate.
PV Cycle, the industry's producer responsibility organisation in Europe, operates collection points across the UK and processes panels through partner facilities. The recovered materials — glass, silicon, silver, copper, and aluminium — are fed back into manufacturing supply chains.
As the volume of decommissioned panels increases through the late 2020s and 2030s, UK-based processing capacity is expected to grow. Several companies are currently developing UK facilities to handle the projected wave of end-of-life panels from the 2010s installations.
What to do when you decommission a system
When panels are removed — either for roof repairs, replacement, or system decommissioning — the removing contractor should handle WEEE-compliant disposal. Ask your installer or removal contractor explicitly whether the panels will be recycled through a compliant scheme; they should be able to name the scheme or facility.
Do not place solar panels in a skip or general waste. Panels in landfill are a regulatory violation and a waste of recoverable materials. The aluminium frame alone has significant scrap value that any responsible recycler will recover.
If you are replacing old panels with new ones, ask your new installer whether they will take away the old panels as part of the installation contract. Many will, and the recovered material value can offset disposal logistics costs.
For panels that are still functional but removed from a roof (common when re-roofing), refurbishment and resale through secondhand solar marketplaces is an alternative to recycling that extends the panel's useful life.