Environmental and Economic Performance of Recycling End-of-Life Glass–Backsheet and Glass–Glass Photovoltaic Modules in China

The rapid expansion of China’s photovoltaic (PV) industry is generating a surge of end-of-life (EOL) PV modules, raising serious waste management concerns. However, substantial uncertainties persist in evaluating recycling processes, shifting corporate strategies, and devising regional policies under the “zero-waste cities” framework, which impedes the establishment of an efficient recycling system. Herein, life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) are employed to comprehensively evaluate environmental and economic performance of eight glass–backsheet and two glass–glass EOL PV module recycling processes. Subsequently, considering provincial operational scales and technological distributions, multiple composite strategies encompassing economic subsidies, reduced transport distances, and process upgrades are developed to explore the sustainability of recycling pathways. Results reveal significant regional disparities in EOL PV module mass, while recycling capacity considerably exceeds generation mass, with low utilization rates. Aluminum recovery delivers marked environmental benefits, while swelling delamination pretreatment enhances environmental performance. EOL module purchase cost and aluminum alloys market price are key profitability factors. Implementing the optimal solution could increase carbon emission reduction by 4.5%, net abiotic resource savings by 47.5% and net profit by 56% over the baseline. These findings provide instrumental insights for policymakers and industry to advance PV recycling and foster a circular economy.