India lacks solar waste handling policy
The Hindu
IRENA has estimated that global photovoltaic waste will touch 78 million tonnes by 2050
While India ramps up its solar power installation, it does not yet have a firm policy on managing waste that results from used solar panels or from the manufacturing process.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) last December estimated that the global photovoltaic waste will touch 78 million tonnes by 2050, with India expected to be one of the top five photovoltaic-waste creators.
India currently considers solar waste a part of electronic waste and does not account for it separately, according to a response to a question in the Rajya Sabha. However, said Minister for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) R.K. Singh, a committee had been constituted under the chairmanship of the Ministry’s Secretary to propose an action plan to evolve a “circular economy” in solar panel, through reuse/recycling of waste generated. There was no commercial raw material recovery facility for solar e-waste operational in India, but a pilot facility for solar panel recycling and material recovery had been set up by a private company in Gummidipoondi, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
