NGT Issues Notice to Centre and Others over Improper Recycling of Used Solar Panels

31 Dec 2024

The National Green Tribunal has directed the Centre to respond to concerns regarding the improper disposal and recycling of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. The directive came during a hearing of a petition submitted by a farmer from Uttar Pradesh, who raised issues about the absence of proper disposal facilities for used solar panels.

"The case of the applicant is that a solar panel is used to generate energy for irrigation in agricultural fields in his village under the KUSUM scheme since 2019, and he has highlighted the gap in life cycle management of damaged solar panels," a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and expert member A Senthil Vel said in an order dated December 23.

The bench observed that, as per the petition, the solar panels were beyond repair and needed to be discarded as scrap. However, due to the absence of adequate "proper disposal infrastructure," the panels were either buried or sent to landfills, resulting in negative impacts on soil quality.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) stated that the petition highlights several concerns, including the limited scrap value of the panels, as scrap dealers accept only aluminium, copper, and glass components of PV panels, while the remaining materials, including polymers and silicon, are non-recyclable and must be disposed of in landfills.