Evaluation of the economic impact of a new high value process for the management of the end of life of thin film photovoltaic modules

This paper presents the evaluation of the economic impact in terms of valuable material recovered, and cost associated to the recycling, of a new method proposed for managing the end of life of thin film photovoltaic panels that has been developed by the Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Science Department of Università Politecnica delle Marche. The revenues associated to the recovery of valuable and common materials, the avoided cost for landfill disposal, the recycling costs have been assessed for evaluating the sustainability of the process. Other aspects such as the potential damages for health and environment due to an improper management of the PV panels end of life phase, have been considered.