Australia's 100-million solar panel puzzle
Source: https://www.cessnockadvertiser.com.au/story/7996851/australias-100-million-solar-panel-puzzle/
Author: Marion Rae
Several years ago, 4000 solar panels that had reached the end of their lives were sitting in north Queensland and no one knew what to do with them. When the local council put them in landfill, Tim Dawson heard about it and took the panels to his mate James Petesic's garage. There, the pair pulled them apart to recycle the materials, turning the exercise into a business. By next year, Australia will have installed 100 million solar panels - or enough to pile as high as 480 Mount Everests. "This is a massive challenge to solve because of the sheer scale," Mr Dawson warns. "It's easy enough to take care of consumer electronics, taking them to your local recycling centre, but it's a lot harder to take your 12 solar panels and get them recycled." The International Energy Agency has forecast that Australia will have one of the biggest solar waste streams in the world in the wake of a solar boom that began more than a decade ago. Although battery waste is expected to grow at a faster rate than solar panels because of a shor life span, panels will make up the bulk of the problem. Sustainability Victoria has estimated 100,000 tonnes of panels will become waste by 2035 Australia-wide, but there is also scope for the development of new markets and manufacturing using the valuable materials. Ways to collect, use and process the waste will need to be developed, particularly for glass - which makes up most of a solar panel by weight.