The Australian federal government together with state and territory administrations has agreed to develop a nationwide programme for the reuse and recycling of solar panels. The aim of the planned mandatory system will be to prevent photovoltaic modules from being disposed of before the end of their useful life and from being landfilled, stockpiled or exported. Instead, they are to be reused or recycled, New South Wales (NSW) state government reported last week. The state is already developing a similar scheme for batteries.
The annual solar panel waste volume in Australia is expected to almost double from 59,340 tonnes in 2025 to 91,165 tonnes by 2030, according to the NSW government press release. Urban areas will initially account for the bulk of arisings, while large-scale solar facilities will only start to add significantly to waste volumes after 2030....
