South Korea Faces Solar Waste Crisis as Recycling Capacity Lags
South Korea’s enthusiastic push for renewable energy is casting a long, and previously underestimated, shadow. The very solar panels meant to power a greener future are now piling up, creating a burgeoning waste crisis that the nation is ill-equipped to handle. As the first wave of solar panels installed during the mid-2010s boom reach their end-of-life, the country is discovering that its recycling infrastructure is dangerously behind the curve.
A Tidal Wave of South Korea Solar Waste Exceeds All Projections
The numbers are stark and paint a concerning picture of a problem that has been severely miscalculated. In 2024, South Korea generated 2,547 tons of solar panel waste. This figure is more than double the 1,223 tons the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment had projected for 2025, revealing a significant gap between official forecasts and on-the-ground reality.
This sudden influx is already overwhelming recyclers. The inventory of unprocessed waste at recycling facilities has more than tripled in just one year, jumping from 203 tons in 2024 to 674 tons in 2025.
This is just the beginning. Projections show the problem is set to explode, with an estimated 147,000 tons of solar waste expected by 2035. To put this staggering figure into perspective, it’s enough material to cover an area more than five times the size of Seoul’s Yeouido district. The surge is a direct result of the nation’s rapid solar expansion between 2018 and 2022, which saw 15.6 GW of new capacity installed—2.5 times the country’s entire cumulative capacity before that period. Coupled with technological advances prompting the early replacement of older panels, the waste stream is accelerating faster than anyone anticipated.
Recycling Capacity Falters Under Pressure from South Korea Solar Waste
The core of the crisis lies in a critical bottleneck: a severe lack of recycling capacity. Currently, only eight companies nationwide are equipped to process used photovoltaic panels. Combined, their annual processing capacity stands at a mere 23,000 tons.
This capacity is woefully inadequate for the coming deluge. At the current rate, the existing infrastructure can handle less than 15% of the waste projected for 2035. Without immediate and significant investment in scaling up recycling capabilities, the vast majority of these decommissioned panels risk ending up in landfills, negating many of the environmental benefits they were installed to create.
A Call for a Sustainable Lifecycle Strategy for South Korea Solar Waste
The situation has prompted calls for urgent government intervention. Experts, including Professor Emeritus Lee Deok-hwan of Sogang University, are urging policymakers to move beyond simply incentivizing installation and to focus on the entire lifecycle of solar technology.
Key recommendations include conducting accurate and updated surveys to grasp the true scale of the waste problem, providing support to expand the nation’s processing capacity, and developing robust mid- to long-term strategies for a circular solar economy.
South Korea’s solar waste crisis serves as a critical lesson for the global transition to renewable energy. True sustainability requires not just clean energy generation, but also a clear and viable plan for what happens when the technology that produces it is no longer in service. The time for South Korea to build that plan is now, before the mountain of waste grows insurmountable.
