PV recycling mandate: Industry needs to adapt as new rules take effect

WRITTEN BY JAN CLYNCKE.  It’s no longer just a green thing to do: starting in February the collection, transport and recycling as well as its related financing and administration of discarded end-of-life photovoltaic panels is EU law. One of the most significant changes in the European photovoltaic sector in recent years, it’s the result of the new WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive adopted two years ago by the European Union.

The EU decided to include the PV sector in what has worked well for PV CYCLE and in other industries: the so-called Extended Producer Responsibility. “PV Producers” – all firms or individuals manufacturing, selling, reselling or importing PV modules in an  EU-country – are now responsible for disposing and recycling panels in all Member States in which they operate. It’s worth nothing that those obligations are likely to differ significantly from country to country.

The 14 February deadline

The WEEE Directive Recast of 2012 introduced the general norms under which each Member State should regulate the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment, including photovoltaic panels, after 14 February 2014.

The United Kingdom was the first Member State to implement this legislation — in advance of the official deadline, no less — followed by Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Luxemburg. (A national law was presented to the British Parliament on 10 December 2013 and came into force on 1 January 2014.)  

Although other EU countries may not meet the deadline and it will take them a few more months to get up to speed, WEEE will remain subject to the PV sector in 2014 and onwards. 

From voluntary to mandatory

The WEEE legislation brings significant changes as it implies producers of PV modules to mandatorily organize and finance the waste management of their used products. Including PV modules in the Directive has ensured that the entire sector will have to participate in the waste management of PV panels. A novelty for those companies not yet affiliated with a voluntary scheme.

A result of intensive information campaigning of the PV industry, PV producers will not have to bear a share of the costs of other consumer products included within the WEEE regulation, which at the moment are being recycled in much higher numbers than PV modules with their +25-year lifetime. Recycling of panels will grow significantly only in ten or twenty years, when large quantities of new panels installed during the last decade will arrive at the end of their lifespan.

This important achievement, however, does not exclude PV companies to take up a number of other responsibilities connected with WEEE compliance:

• Register in all EU countries in which they are considered to be producer
• Periodically report the PV modules they sell to the national WEEE registers
• Organize and finance the treatment of their PV module waste – individually or via an accredited collective scheme
• Inform the end customers on how they must dispose of their PV modules
• Inform treatment facilities of their product’s composition and the potential use of hazardous materials
• Mark their products with a crossed-out wheelie bin

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