Glass manufacturer AGC has announced that it has successfully recycled solar panel cover glass into float glass. The test was conducted on 18 March 2024 at the Kashima plant in Japan.
According to the company, the service life of solar panels is estimated at 20-30 years, and from the late 2030s, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of panels are expected to be recycled annually. Glass from solar panels is likely to end up in industrial waste landfills, as it contains impurities that improve the transmittance of glass.
At the Kashima plant, approximately 5 tonnes of cover glass was cleaned and processed using the low-temperature thermal decomposition technology of the Japanese company Tokuyama Corporation.
If this trial is successful, float glass is expected to become a suitable solution to the problem of recycling of glass packaging.
Replacing the virgin raw material with untreated cullet will also help AGC reduce the heat energy required for melting, thus reducing CO2 emissions.