New South Wales consults on making panel makers pay for solar waste
Serguey Asael Shinder1 min readThe New South Wales government has opened consultation on a proposal for Australia's first mandatory solar-panel recycling scheme. Under the proposed product-stewardship scheme, solar manufacturers and importers supplying regulated PV panels would take financial responsibility for end-of-life solar waste, with the stated aim of recovering and reusing panel materials rather than sending them to landfill — diverting thousands of tonnes of waste.
What it means
"Brand owner pays" is the design choice that makes recycling happen. End-of-life panels are recyclable in principle and dumped in practice, because recycling costs more than landfill and no one is required to pay the difference. Putting the cost on manufacturers and importers — extended producer responsibility — is the mechanism that has worked for batteries and electronics, and it is the substance of this proposal.
The first wave of panels is only now reaching end of life, which is why the timing is deliberate. Solar deployed a decade ago is starting to come down, and the volume rises fast from here. A scheme set up before the wave is cheaper and cleaner than one built after panels are already in landfill — this is a state trying to be early.
It is a consultation, not a scheme. What is on the table is a proposal and a question, not a law. The parts that will be fought over — which panels are "regulated", how the fee is set, who runs the collection — are exactly what a consultation exists to settle, and none of them are decided yet.