A new solar panel recycling facility has officially opened its doors at Bankstown Airport today as part of the NSW Government's ongoing commitment to increase recycling and ease pressure on landfills.
The new facility by PV Industries is expected to process up to 6,000 tonnes of solar panels per year, with each panel processed in under 90 seconds. This new facility will divert approximately 200,000 panels from landfill.
The leading Australian startup has developed two recycling technologies, the Deframer and Deglasser, which can recover up to 90% of solar panels by weight.
NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Chief Executive Tony Chappel said the business received $3.3 million from the EPA to help establish this commercial scale facility.
"This new Bankstown facility is a game changer, with the capacity to take large amounts of solar panel waste and drive new end-markets for recovered glass and critical minerals," Mr Chappel said.
"It's estimated by 2035, solar panel waste in NSW could reach up to 63,000 tonnes per year, so facilities like this will be critical to managing this growing waste stream."
Six drop off points have been established in NSW including in Bankstown, Dubbo, Maitland, Newcastle, Thornleigh and the Central Coast, building the collection network for end-of-life panels.
PV Industries co-founder James Petesic said the business was extremely grateful for the support of the NSW EPA, as well as industry and local government partners.
"The NSW EPA had the foresight in 2019 to establish the Circular Solar grant program, the first of its kind in Australia, to futureproof NSW's solar recycling capacity," Mr Petesic said.
"It enabled us at PV Industries, a local Sydney start-up, to bring our Deframer and Deglasser to life and ensure we are ready for the pending wave of end-of-life solar panels."
Another solar panel recycling facility has been commissioned in Parkes by Australia's largest e-waste processing business, Sircel Ltd, and has started ramping up processing. The facility aims to process 160,000 solar panels or 3,500 tonnes per year.
The NSW Government is also leading work to progress a national solar panel stewardship scheme. Working with other states and territories, the NSW Government will present preliminary options to the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council early next year.
