A local solar panel installer said the state government should “pick up its game” when it comes to solar panel waste and disposal.
Managing Director at Greener Connections, James Bliss, has been in the solar industry for 12 years, and commended the Victorian government for banning landfilling solar panels.
He said the Queensland government should do the same.
But he also said panel waste in Logan wasn’t as bad as it might seem.
“We use a lot less than we used to,” Mr Bliss said.
“The panels are getting bigger, so the amount of panels used is getting smaller.”
According to Mr Bliss, the average number of panels per home had decreased from 28 to 18 in the last few years.
Mr Bliss oversees the installation of solar panels on around 200 homes a year.
Research suggests large amounts of waste is due to the premature removal of panels for the purpose of upgrading.
Mr Bliss said although premature removal was definitely apparent, it was not because of upgrades.
“Some companies will wait for storm season, and they look for problems that don’t exist,” he said.
He said companies will find scratches caused by hail or rocks and make an insurance claim on the panel.
But he said these slightly damaged, but working, panels won’t necessarily go to landfills.
Most of the unused panels go into a company’s “panel pile” where people can pick them up and reuse them for free.
“People use them for their cars,” Mr Bliss said.
He even saw one person use them to run their electric gates.
Professor Peter Majewski, who recently conducted a study of solar panel disposal, said Australia can anticipate up to 100,000 tonnes of solar panel waste by 2025.
According to Prof Majewski, approximately 30% of discarded panels are completely functional.
Professor Majewski said manufacturers needed to “design solar panels that can be more easily recycled if they are damaged or out of warranty” – a solution Mr Bliss agrees with.
Mr Bliss said panel construction should transition to include more recyclable and safer materials.
Solar panels contain highly toxic substances (including arsenic) which is why the Victorian government declared them as “hazardous waste” and banned them from landfill.
Mr Majewski said although legislation of this kind was effective, sustainable disposable efforts could become futile if the waste is simply diverted to landfill elsewhere.
He said insufficient legislation could, in some cases, be to blame.
“Much earlier legislation regarding, for example, plastic waste, would have prevented some of the waste we have now and would have helped to develop a more robust recycling industry,” Professor Majewski said.
The federal government is currently conducting a series of studies, in collaboration with a variety of industry experts, to devise appropriate disposal regulation of solar panels.
