The energy transition in Latin America and the Caribbean presents significant challenges related to the region’s capacity to manage, in an environmentally sound and economically efficient manner, the waste generated at the end of the useful life of the technologies supporting this transition.
It is essential to develop capacities for recycling recoverable materials and ensuring the environmentally sound final disposal of materials that cannot be recovered from the components that make up these technologies.
At the same time, these challenges create new business opportunities in the fields of the circular economy and technological waste management, with the potential to generate employment, improve resource efficiency, and contribute to reducing emissions associated with industrial processes.
This Technical Note provides both a current inventory and a forward-looking assessment of the materials contained in the main technologies associated with the energy transition—specifically photovoltaic panels, lithium-ion batteries, and wind turbines—over a 25-year horizon. The analysis is based on OLADE’s energy outlook incorporated into the Energy Outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2025.
The objective of this work is to provide a forward-looking assessment of the quantities of metals, glass, plastics, and other materials that could be recovered and recycled over the medium and long term, as well as to estimate the potential economic value of these resources once the technological devices in which they are contained reach the end of their useful life. In doing so, the Technical Note seeks to support the planning of regional strategies aimed at strengthening the circular economy and promoting the sustainable management of waste generated by the energy transition.
