Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guarantees installers are obliged to give that they will correctly and completely dispose of solar panels at the end of their working lives; and who has to pay the cost of disposal.

Since 1^st January 2014, the 2013 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations require producers of photo-voltaic (PV) panels to take on the financial obligations arising from the collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of PV panels when they become waste, irrespective of when they were placed on the market.

The WEEE regulations also place obligations on distributors selling PV panels to private households to have a procedure in place to take back PV waste or, alternatively, they must pay into a Government-approved Distributor Take-back Scheme (DTS), which provides funding to local authority household recycling centres.

Separate rules also apply to ensure PV panels supplied to business end-users are properly treated when they become waste. Treatment of all WEEE, including PV panels, must be undertaken in line with best available treatment, recovery and recycling techniques to ensure that it is disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.