Romanian company Greensmalt intends to establish a photovoltaic panel recycling facility in the town of Seini in Maramureș county, in the country’s second such project to date.
The initiative follows Romania’s inaugural solar module recycling plant, which was launched in April 2025 in Lunca Câlnicului, Brașov County, by Sun 3R Green Recycling via a EUR 1.5 million investment.
Romania’s total installed solar capacity has reached approximately 5 GW, with prosumer installations accounting for over half of the overall capacity, 2Mnews reported.
Greensmalt intends to secure grant funding for the project
The Seini project is being developed by Romania-based Greensmalt, owned in equal shares by Romanian national Gheorghe Nicolae Moiș and Italian partners Stefano Argenziano and Fabrizio Davidde.
The future facility is designed for a processing throughput of one tonne per hour, capable of recycling approximately 45 PV panels hourly. Its capacity is slightly smaller than the Brașov plant, where the automated line handles around 1.2 tonnes or about 70 panels per hour.
Greensmalt intends to secure grant funding for the development through the North-West Regional Programme 2021–2027.
Located within the Seini smart specialization park, the site covers a total built area of around 1,500 square meters, divided into three main planned structures: a production hall with an advanced processing line, a storage warehouse, and a two-level administrative building.
The technological process
The technological process involves dismantling the solar modules and separating key components, including the junction box, aluminum frame, and the composite layer containing glass, solar cells, and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulant.
In subsequent stages, the glass-cell-EVA combination is processed into distinct streams to recover glass, silicon, metals, and plastics for reuse or recovery.
The recycling process is expected to yield 65% of glass cullet, 14% of plastics, 12% of aluminum, 8% of silicon, and 0.1% of copper.
The operational power demand for the entire facility is estimated at approximately 170 kW.
