The story of how Italian technology is changing the future of photovoltaic recycling
(also confirmed by Recycling International, October 2025)
Some objects are designed to capture light.
Photovoltaic panels are among them: for twenty years, they absorb the sun's energy, powering homes, businesses, and entire cities. Then, slowly, they begin to lose efficiency. And when they reach the end of their life cycle, they become a new environmental challenge.
According to European estimates, millions of tons of solar modules will need to be recycled in the coming years.
Not disposed of: recycled, because they contain valuable materials — aluminum, silicon, glass, copper — all of which can be recovered and reused in industry.
But there was a problem: delamination, the process that separates glass, cells, polymers, and metals, was complex, expensive, and slow. Until a solution arrived that is now revolutionizing the industry worldwide.
This solution has an Italian name: Stokkermill Solar.
For years, the recycling of photovoltaic panels has been blocked by a critical issue:
👉 First, the aluminum frame had to be removed manually.
A long, risky, costly operation.
And above all, anti-industrial.
Stokkermill engineers saw it as a challenge:
"What if we don't remove that frame at all?"
This question led to the development of a technology that is now attracting the attention of leading operators in the sector and has earned a dedicated article in the most authoritative international recycling magazine: Recycling International (October 2025).
Imagine a machine capable of "peeling" a solar panel in seconds, separating each material without using chemical or thermal processes.
No acids, no ovens, no gas.
Pure mechanics, reduction, delamination, and intelligent separation.
This is what the XRS delaminator mill does, the technological heart of Solar plants.
A machine developed over more than twenty years of experience in crushing complex materials:
• solar panels
• lithium batteries
• polycoupled
• WEEE
• difficult-to-treat composites
The result?
Clean, precise separation controlled by PLC, with reduced consumption and minimal maintenance.
Each panel tells a story made of precious materials.
Stokkermill recovers them all with efficiency that borders on perfection: 99.8% of the weight, one of the highest values worldwide.
Here's how a panel is transformed in just a few minutes:
🔹 Aluminum (18%)
There is no need to remove the frame before processing.
It comes out ready for the foundry, ready-for-furnace, clean, free of contaminants, and classifiable as End of Waste.
🔹 Glass (70%)
It is separated into different grain sizes:
• "large" glass, extremely clean
• "fine" glass, perfect for ceramics and special steels
Always with very low iron content.
🔹 Silicon (8–10%)
A valuable fraction, rich in value:
• semiconductors
• metallurgy
• ceramics
• abrasives
• refractory materialsWith useful traces of silver and other precious metals.
🔹 I polymers (5%)
Mechanically separated EVA and backsheet, with high calorific value and customizable granulation.
🔹 Copper (1–2%)
In the industrial recycling sector, versatility and performance are the two pillars on which the efficiency of a plant is built.
With over 40 years of experience in the design of material recovery machinery, Stokkermill has developed a line of combined plants capable of treating photovoltaic solar panels and electronic waste (WEEE) with the same effectiveness.
ALLUMINIO
VETRO
SILICIO
EVA
RAME
Copper is recovered with excellent purity thanks to proven separation technologies.
Solar plants: power, capacity, and continuous industrial production
The Solar range is designed to cover all production needs, from regional recycling centers to very high-capacity industrial plants.
And with some of the lowest energy consumption in its class:
👉 less than 1 kWh per panel treated.
Only two operators are needed to manage a complete system.
When Recycling International—the world's most authoritative magazine in the recycling sector—mentioned Stokkermill, it highlighted three key aspects:
⭐ 1. A technology that is unique in the world
Mechanical process without frame removal.
⭐ 2. Industrial capacity of over 4 tons/hour
A benchmark for the European and American markets.
⭐ 3. A truly circular approach
High-quality materials, reduced consumption, no heat or chemical treatments.
Because you no longer need to choose between productivity, sustainability, and quality of the recovered material.
With Stokkermill, you get it all:
✔ Recovery ≥ 99.8%
✔ Low energy consumption
✔ No manual pre-separation
✔ No chemical or thermal processes
✔ Modular and scalable systems
✔ Global support
✔ Over 1000 systems installed worldwide
