The NSW Government is making efforts to establish a national solar panel reuse and recycling scheme, following agreement by Commonwealth, state and territory governments to progress work on a product stewardship program.
The proposal was presented at the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council meeting in Sydney, where the NSW Government outlined a plan to stop solar panels ending up in landfill and instead direct them towards reuse, remanufacture, or recycling. The state is already developing a similar mandated program for batteries.
“We are proud to be leading the charge to create a unified approach to solar panel waste management and recycling,” minister for energy and environment Penny Sharpe said.
“This work builds on the momentum of our nation-leading reform on batteries, and the new legislation already in place in NSW to enable a mandatory product stewardship scheme – ensuring suppliers take responsibility for the safe design, recycling and disposal of their products.”
Annual solar panel waste volumes in Australia are forecast to nearly double from 59,340 tonnes in 2025 to 91,165 tonnes in 2030. While most waste is currently generated by domestic rooftop systems in metropolitan areas, volumes from regional large-scale solar facilities are expected to increase significantly after 2030.
Despite many panels being discarded before the end of their useful life, more than 95 per cent of their materials – including aluminium, glass, copper, silver and silicon – are recyclable.
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The Smart Energy Council estimates that up to one-third of panels could be reused, potentially contributing 24 gigawatts of energy by 2040, enough to power six million homes annually.
“It’s been a decade since the federal government acknowledged solar panels going into landfill was a problem,” Smart Energy Council chief executive officer John Grimes said.
“Now, four million panels are coming off roofs a year with less than five per cent being recycled. The time for talk has passed, an immediate first step is a national solar stewardship pilot to keep the industry alive and inform the Regulatory Impact Statement.”