CLEAN-ENERGY SCRAP IS BECOMING NEW MATERIAL SUPPLY.
Old batteries, panels and blades are starting to feed the next buildout.
The first big wave of clean-energy hardware is becoming feedstock: battery metals can return to batteries, solar panels can yield silver and silicon, turbine blades can displace virgin inputs in cement and construction, and aging grid equipment can supply copper.
WHAT HAPPENED
Reuters highlighted several maturing loops. Redwood Materials says it recovers more than 95% of lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper from spent batteries and manufacturing scrap. Rystad projects that by 2035, panels installed in 2020 could supply up to 21% of solar manufacturing’s silver needs through recycling. Turbine-blade composites are also finding uses in cement kilns and construction materials.
WHY THIS IS HOPESLOP
The energy transition has often been described as a one-way appetite for new minerals. The hopeful shift is that yesterday’s buildout is starting to become tomorrow’s mine — above ground, already processed, and waiting for a second life.
ORIGINAL SOURCEReutersRead the original report
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