Could it be argued that the Solar PV industry is one of the more sustainable industries on the planet?
Solar power is a prime form of renewable energy, and it doesn’t consume natural resources on a daily basis. Fossil fuels are typically consumed during the manufacturing of solar equipment on the front-end, but once deployed at a solar project, they rely on the sun’s natural light energy to create electricity for over 25 years. Once the equipment reaches its end-life, it can be fully recycled and repurposed back into the industry, or downstream to other industries. Sounds like a pretty circular system right, like a circular economy?
What is “The Circular Economy?”
The concept of a ‘circular economy’ is one that is quickly gaining momentum across the world of sustainably-minded manufacturing, businesses and systems of human behavior in general. The circular economy framework was created and popularized by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (founded in 2005), which was likely inspired by William McDounagh and Michael Braungart’s Cradle to Cradle concept and book published in 2002. The whole idea behind the concept is to minimize systematic leakage and negative externalities, like physical waste or toxic emissions.
The question still remains: Is the solar industry achieving true circularity and maximizing its sustainability potential?
Most scaling industries have a packaging problem, specifically in terms of waste generation. In 2018, the EPA reported a total of 82.2 million tons of containers and packaging waste, which was about 28 percent of all municipal solid waste reported. Of that total generation, 54 percent (44.3 million tons) was recycled, which sounds reasonable. However, when you look at the trends, the amount of waste annually going to landfills is staggering, and recycling is improving only slightly year over year. Breaking down that 82 million by material type, plastics made up 14.5 million, while wood made up 11.5 million. Of that plastic and wood generation, only 5 million tons were recycled.
Solar PV is one of those rapidly scaling industries with a packaging problem. In 2020, the solar market experienced another record growth year and delivered roughly 19.2 Gigawatts of solar electricity. At roughly 30 solar panels (400 watts each avg.) per pallet, that would equate to 1.58 million pallets being used last year.
The Problems with Recycling Pallets and Other Waste
Most of the industry (manufacturers) use plywood and wood pallets that are tough to reuse. At roughly 40 pounds for each pallet, that would equal around 63.2 million pounds of potential landfill waste. Cardboard makes up another 40 pounds per pallet, but cardboard is somewhat easier to recycle, as the national cardboard and paper recycling infrastructures are larger and more efficient. Lastly, plastic waste (in the form of stretch wrap LDPE, banding PET, or PP) makes up around 3 pounds of additional waste per pallet. Based on 2018 numbers, that is an additional 4.74 million pounds of potential landfill waste.
Sustainable Packaging Solutions
On the bright side, there are positive solutions that can fix the packaging dilemma. Reusable packaging is one powerful solution that can greatly reduce landfill waste, and most of the negative externalities associated. Companies like PVpallet are pioneering solutions for circularity and reusable packaging. PVpallet, Inc. is currently the only company specifically focused on the solar industry and its packaging issues. The PVpallet has a wide variety of sustainable offerings, such as:
- Made almost entirely of recycled HDPE plastic
- Reusable an estimated 20+ times before end of serviceable life
- 100 percent recyclable at end of life
- Can stack higher than wood pallets to improve efficiencies in warehousing
- Collapsible with a 5:1 return ratio, improving shipping and logistics efficiencies
- Provides added protection to reduce potential damages
- Creates various new job opportunities
PVpallets are currently designed for solar modules, but future iterations could integrate the ability to ship other major solar components, such as – racking components, inverters, combiner boxes, and other electrical equipment.
Companies like PVpallet can help close the reusability and recycling loop, and thrust the solar industry towards a true circular economy. The industry is already very sustainable, being a renewable energy source, but reusable packaging will just add to that sustainability.
By: Tyler Kanczuzewski, Advisory Board Member, PVpallet; VP of Sustainability & Marketing, Inovateus Solar
