Firstly, the recycling and reuse of waste photovoltaic modules is beneficial for the reutilization of resources. The large-scale application of solar photovoltaic power generation technology will significantly increase the consumption of some rare metals. For instance, the preparation of electrodes for crystalline silicon cells requires the consumption of silver, tellurium, indium, gallium, and other materials. These materials have broad prospects for application in other cutting-edge technological fields. If the rare metals within the photovoltaic modules are not recycled after they have been scrapped, it will inevitably lead to significant waste.

According to research by the EU's PV CYCLE organization, glass accounts for approximately 70% of the total weight of waste photovoltaic modules, aluminum materials account for about 18%, and semiconductor materials account for about 4%. This means that the materials in photovoltaic modules mostly have the potential for recycling. Through the recycling and reuse of waste photovoltaic modules, rare metals, glass, aluminum materials, semiconductor materials, and other substances can be recycled, in order to reduce the exploitation of primary resources, lower the energy consumption of resource extraction, and alleviate the impact on and damage to the ecological environment.

Secondly, the recycling and reuse of waste photovoltaic modules can foster new industrial forms and create more employment value. Based on the current waste photovoltaic module recycling process in Europe, the entire operation and management process for handling waste photovoltaic modules, including collection, registration, transportation, recycling processing, and reuse, requires a large number of personnel at each stage, especially specialized recycling technicians for the recycling processing stage. Therefore, the recycling of waste photovoltaic modules can give rise to new industrial forms and create more employment value.

Additionally, the recycling and reuse of waste photovoltaic modules is conducive to achieving true greenness throughout the entire life cycle of solar photovoltaic power generation, thereby promoting the sustainable development of the solar energy industry. Since the commercialization of photovoltaic power generation technology, various governments and enterprises have been actively committed to the green production and operation of photovoltaic power generation.

So far, the industrial chain of crystalline silicon photovoltaic technology, from raw material production, cell manufacturing, module processing to system installation and operation, has already met the requirements of non-pollution and environmental friendliness. However, the indiscriminate handling of waste photovoltaic modules has given rise to many environmental pollution problems.

The new energy industry embodies the main connotation and important support of low-carbon development and a green economy, and low-carbon development and a green economy are the driving force of the new energy industry, with the two mutually reinforcing each other.

Therefore, only by effectively completing the last link of the photovoltaic industry chain—waste photovoltaic module recycling—can we achieve pollution-free greenness from the source to the end of the photovoltaic industry, thereby promoting the sustainable development of the solar energy industry.