Waste crisis looms as thousands of solar panels reach end of life

Thousands of ageing rooftop solar panels represent a toxic time-bomb and major economic waste unless Australia acts swiftly to keep them out of landfill, conservationists and recyclers say.

Solar panel components waiting for
recycling at a Reclaim PV warehouse.

Australia’s enthusiastic embrace of rooftop solar has brought clear environmental and economic benefits, but critics say governments have dragged their feet in addressing the looming waste crisis.

As of December more than 2 million Australian households had rooftop solar installed. The uptake continues to grow due to the technology’s falling cost and rising electricity bills.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald by Nicole Hasham - “Waste crisis looms as thousands of solar panels reach end of life.”

(It seems a little odd to me that we now becoming somewhat agitated about solar panels which have ended their useful life leaving us with a waste stream that is tiny when to compared to the Industrial Age waste littering the world. Exhausted factories and their supporting paraphernalia lie in waste in towns and cities all around the world as do mountains of old motor cars, trucks, buses, trains and other contraptions which supported the human experiment. That doesn't mean, of course, that we should have a dedicated system of disposal for the old solar panels - Robert McLean)