During a debate at the 4th European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) Roundtable, which runs until December 2007, participants focused on waste and recycling in the photovoltaic sector.
They discussed the PV industry initiative to establish a voluntary take-back system for PV products and urged the European Commission not to include PV in the WEEE take-back directive, currently under revision. Photovoltaic (PV) products are currently not included in the scope of the directive on Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), but could be after the current revision is released in 2008.
The need to recycle PV products is still limited, since it’s only recently that the sector took off. EPIA foresees a drastic change in the situation 20 years from now when products reach their end-of-life and spent modules will have to be recycled. To anticipate the future needs, the PV sector, through the association “PV Cycle”, proposes a voluntary take-back system for PV waste that will enable the sector to recover up to 90% of PV products by 2015. The association represents over 70% of the global photovoltaic market.
Its key objectives are:
. Promoting and setting up an industry wide voluntary PV module reclaim and recycling program;
. Promoting industry-led sustainable product life cycle management practices;
. Strengthening the industry’s overall joint product responsibility;
. Ensuring regular monitoring;
. Supporting targeted future research.
If the PV-sector were to be included in WEEE, there would be 27 differently designed recycling systems, with inherent administrative procedures and costs. The take-back system proposed by PV-Cycle will instead create a coherent EU-wide recycling system that will enable efficient and economically viable management of waste from the PV-sector.
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