Global review of policies & guidelines for recycling of solar PV modules

Abstract

An early development of PV recycling industry will be essential for use renewable energy in a sustainable manner. It has been estimated that the cumulative PV waste has reached 43,500-250,000 metric tonnes in 2016, is 0.1%-0.6% of the total installed PV capacity (4 million metric tonnes). The percentage of the solar PV waste will increase further and will contribute 4% of the installed PV capacity by 2030s. However, there are unique opportunities for creating economic value from the PV waste (e.g. recovery of raw material, market for new PV recycle industries etc). This paper has reviewed policies and guidelines for PV recycling in selected countries (i.e. Germany, UK, Italy, Switzerland, Norway,