In a method for cleaning blinding particles in crushers, material to be crushed is fed via a feed stream (1) to a crushing tool, and from there is separated by a screen (7) into a conveyor stream (8) that passes through the screen (7) and a return stream (10) that is held back by the screen (7) and returned to the feed stream (1), thereby forming a conveyance circuit (9). The method makes an efficient, continuous crusher operation possible, wherein idle times for cleaning blinding particles can be avoided. The particle size distribution and/or the material volume are measured at specified intervals in parts of the conveyance circuit (9) and/or conveyor stream (8), and if the particle size distribution and/or material volume deviate above a predefined limit value, the particle size created by the crushing tool is increased for a predefined time period.

Embodiments relate to one or more techniques that may be employed alone or in combination, in the refurbishment or recycling of used solar modules. In certain approaches, a (heated) wire may be used to cut through one or more layers (e.g., front encapsulant, back encapsulant, both front and back encapsulant, backsheet) of a solar module that is being recycled or refurbished. Some approaches may employ testing of a used solar module, alone or in combination with information (e.g., as part of a received package) regarding parameters of a used solar module such as panel size, width, length, height, thickness of glass, or others. According to specific embodiments, used solar modules may be subjected to various cleaning processes at one or more points during refurbishment/recycling.