A solar panel recycling industry takes shape

(1 Aug 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Yuma, Arizona – 12 July 2023
1. Various of fork lift truck taking decommissioned solar panels into We Recycle Solar facility
2. Various of workers inspecting decommissioned solar panels to refurbish or recycle them
3. Adam Saghei, CEO of We Recycle Solar, at recycling facility
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Saghei, CEO of We Recycle Solar: ++PARTIALLY COVERED++
“So what inspired us to start We Recycle Solar was a huge problem. As solar is a great technology and is now becoming more and more accessible to everyone, there was no planning for end of life. And with secondary markets, with US’s supply chain woes, we knew we could find a way to take those raw materials and these assets and give them new life.”
5. Various of worker doing initial testing of decommissioned solar panels, lifting it with a vacuum arm to look at the solar panel’s condition
ANNOTATION: We Recycle Solar has opened the largest solar panel recycling plant in North America, just as the flow of used solar panels sharply ramps up.
ANNOTATION: The company sends about 60% of the panels for resale and reuse, and recycles the valuable materials like glass, copper and aluminum.
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Saghei, CEO of We Recycle Solar:
“We don't want to go to the landfill. That's the last thing that we want to do. There's still life left in them. They're 25 to 30 years. At the end of the day, someone else's trash is someone else's treasure. That we're able to refurbish and remarket that and get it to a place where an underserved community can take advantage of that.”
7. Various of decommissioned solar panels waiting outside of facility to be processed
8. Wide of We Recycle Solar facility
9. Various of machine crushing solar panels to separate different components for recycling
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Saghei, CEO of We Recycle Solar: ++PARTIALLY COVERED++
“Anything that doesn't qualify for resale, we then send down to our recycling lines. That material is dismantled. The frames come off, it goes through secondary machinery where mechanically the process takes over and they separate different (components such as) glass, the silicon, the back sheet, silver, cabling, etcetera.”
11. Various of conveyor belt carrying glass taken from solar panels
12. Big Bear Commercial Blasting founder Erick Speiginer receiving sack full of recycled glass from We Recycle Solar for sandblasting job
ANNOTATION: Repurposing the highest value materials from solar panels means finding new uses for them, such as selling glass to companies that do sandblasting.
13. Workers filling bucket with recycled glass
14. Worker feeding sandblasting machine with recycled glass for blasting job
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Erick Speiginer, Big Bear Commercial Blasting founder: ++PARTIALLY COVERED++
“We believe, you know, at Big Bear that being responsible and using a product that would potentially end up in a landfill… We think it's responsible to take it and use it, you know, in a recycled form for our industry. And we just think it's the right thing to do.”
16. Various of worker blasting crane with recycled glass
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Saghei, CEO of We Recycle Solar: ++PARTIALLY COVERED++
“Every product today that you see within the US supply chain is heavily mined, is heavily sourced and often disrupts the ecosystems, all around the world. So why not take it from existing products, extract those raw materials and put them back into use?”
18. Worker blasting crane
19. Close of crane after blasting job
STORYLINE:

















----




Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...