Comstock Metals announces sustainable solar recycling site coming to Ohio
Comstock Inc. and its Comstock Metals subsidiary have selected the city of Cambridge, Ohio as the site of its newest industrial-scale solar panel manufacturing facility.
Expected to create 20 full-time positions once operational, the site comes as part of a partnership between Comstock, JobsOhio, and its Ohio Southeast Economic Development (OhioSE) regional partner. The incoming facility is partly support by a newly announced $75,000 grant from JobsOhio, which aims to promote economic development, business development, and job creation throughout southeastern Ohio.
Comstock currently boasts the only certified zero-landfill solar panel recycling solution in North America, representatives say. Now, the new site in the Buckeye State will also function as a production facility and logistics hub for Comstock Metals, officials add.
“Our new Cambridge facility in Ohio is an integral part of our growing national capacity of logistics, storage and recycling of end-of-life solar materials that are decommissioning across the country,” says Comstock CEO Corrado De Gasperis. “We truly appreciate the collaboration with JobsOhio and OhioSE for supporting and enabling these jobs. The speed that we build these human systems and deploy our recycling network is critical to keeping these hazardous materials out of our landfills, communities and eco-systems.”
Alongside the recycling and logistical improvements, the new facility will be a crucial link in the American solar manufacturing supply chain in 2027 and beyond.
Creating a more sustainable supply chain
Founded in Silver Springs, Nevada in 2022, Comstock Metals specializes in the recycling and reusing of industrial-scale, end-of-life solar panels. But what sets Comstock apart, representatives say, is the firm’s construction of a fully circular, zero-landfill solution, which sustainably recovers aluminum, copper, silver, glass, and other materials from those decommissioned solar panels.
The company’s Silver Springs recycling facility — the model from which the Ohioan plant will be constructed — currently recycles up to 100,000 tons of solar panels every year, and achieves 100% material recovery. The Ohio facility will aim even higher, expanding that capacity to produce aluminum, silver, and glass bead for resale, and ultimately, reinjection into the Midwest’s wider supply chain.
“The Cambridge facility will enable Comstock Metals to reduce long-distance transportation costs,” the firm says, “which can account for 30 to 50 percent of total recycling expenses, while better serving its growing Midwest and eastern US customer base.”
Dr. Fortunato Villamagna, president of Comstock Metals, says the support the country has received from JobsOhio and OhioSE is not only critical to Comstock’s mission, but to the recognition and prioritization of solar and material recycling across the U.S.
“The central Ohio location provides a cost-effective, logistical solution for our growing Midwest and Northeast US customer base, supporting the company’s goal to set the standard for solar recycling here in the United States,” he says. “Our team has developed a strong network of relationships in the eastern US with solar power producers, O&M groups, and manufacturers.”
