Recycling PV Panels: It's Time to Take Industry-Wide Action
With recent decreases in the cost of installing a solar power system (about 50% since 2007), the number of solar photovoltaic (PV) system installations has increased in the past three years. However, we still need an industry-wide recycling system for PV panels in the United States.
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition released a report last year evaluating leading photovoltaic manufacturers’ (U.S. only) commitments to environmental protection, sustainability, and social justice. It found that not a single company has a fully funded collection and recycling program for end-of-life PV modules produced globally. This makes sense because a fully funded program would make the manufacturer less cost-competitive.
A recycling plan requires the cooperation of all members of the solar PV supply chain. The hope is to create industry-wide compliance in end-of-life recycling procedures before the government does it for the solar industries. The regulations that the U.S. government enacts may take years to go into effect and may not be as favorable to solar companies. Government regulation usually complicates matters and increases the cost of doing business. This added “soft” cost gets added to the price consumers pay for their PV systems.
Members of the Solar Energy Industry Association are currently in the process of developing collection and recycling guidelines. This is preferable to government requirements and is an overall more proactive approach. Many photovoltaic panel manufacturers warranty their panels to perform at a specified efficiency for 25 years, and the typical lifecycle for PV panels is roughly 20-30 years, with some panels having a lifecycle of 40+ years (like SunPower Panels). This means most installed panels have not reached the end of their life and will not reach the end for many years, so tracking the life cycle is a genuine challenge. But if the solar industry is serious about being truly green, we need to develop a proactive plan for recycling PV panels.
Most PV panels are classified as non-hazardous and thus are not regulated by the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. End-of-life disposal of PV panels is, consequently, up to the person or company removing them, which is usually a roofing or construction company. Based on current practices, most construction waste goes into a dumpster before being hauled to a landfill.
In Europe, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulates how end-of-life products are treated and what obligations electric and electronic equipment producers are subject to. In 2012, the WEEE was amended to include PV panels under the products regulated by the WEEE. Companies producing and selling PV panels in the EU have been required to manage the waste at the product’s life since the program was enacted in 2014. Until there’s an equivalent to WEEE regulations in the U.S., those companies that take back solar modules or pay for them to be recycled at the end of their life will be at a competitive disadvantage.
“PV Cycle” is an industry-driven organization in Europe. If a homeowner wishes to recycle their solar panels and the PV panel brand is eligible, they can bring their PV panels to a PV Cycle collection point and have them recycled free of charge. PV Cycle was created by the industry for the industry. PV Cycle was established 5 years before the EU included PV panels under the WEEE directive. This gave the solar PV manufacturers time to adjust and embrace the change before the government made it mandatory. It’s often difficult to understand the by-laws of the WEEE directive, and the PV cycle manages the logistics for solar companies, making it easier for everyone involved.
Whether the effort is industry-led or government-mandated, we need to devise a plan for end-of-life and take-back of PV panels if solar is to remain a green technology.
