The largest flow of photovoltaic waste – in the future
Experts from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA PVPS) predict that by 2050, up to 78 million tons of photovoltaic panel waste could be generated worldwide, according to a press release from the Environmental Protection Institute.
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In 2024, about 25 thousand tons of photovoltaic panels were supplied to the Lithuanian domestic market, about 36 thousand in 2025, but only a few tons have been collected and properly managed.
As commented by Veronika Masalienė, head of the Electronics Manufacturers and Importers Organization (EGIO), the true scale of this waste will become apparent in the coming decades when current solar power plants reach the end of their operational life.
Who will take responsibility?
According to the “polluter pays” principle, the responsibility for proper management of photovoltaic panel waste lies with manufacturers and importers – companies that first introduced solar power plant components to the Lithuanian market. They must ensure the collection and management of this waste according to environmental requirements.
However, simply setting rules does not guarantee that waste will be properly collected and managed. Experts note that the photovoltaic panel waste collection system currently operates inefficiently – only a small portion of waste is collected.
“If we imagine a bus where nine out of ten passengers are rabbits, a similar situation exists here – only about 15% of importers’ and manufacturers’ financial obligations are collected. The situation must be changed, ensuring that the funds allocated for this are not used for managing other waste, as happens now. To understand the scale, about 3.5 million euros are lost annually,” says Dr. Tadas Radavičius, researcher at the VILNIUS TECH Sustainability Center.
According to him, one of the problems is the different taxation of household and non-household waste. Financial obligations for future waste management are 30 times lower for non-household waste compared to household waste. Although it is theoretically impossible to know exactly where a solar module will end up when introduced to the market, practically about half of them end up in private homes. Modules are declared as non-household, so a much lower fee is paid and insufficient funds are collected for their future management.
According to T. Radavičius, Lithuania has two paths in this situation – either learn from its mistakes after 20 years, when there will be no funds to finance solar module waste management, or use the experience accumulated by other Western countries. Necessary solutions include strengthening control and verifying where solar modules introduced to the Lithuanian market actually end up, as well as unifying the financing of household and non-household waste management.
He notes that Lithuania could draw good practice examples from France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
V. Masalienė also points out that as the solar power market grows, it is important that its participants operate under the same rules.
“Fulfilling manufacturers’ and importers’ responsibilities costs businesses – waste management costs can amount to up to 5 euros per photovoltaic panel. For this reason, uneven competition conditions arise in the market: manufacturers and importers who operate honestly fulfill their obligations, while some market participants avoid them to gain a competitive advantage. As long as there are loopholes in legislation allowing avoidance of responsibility, it becomes harder for honest businesses to compete,” commented the head of EGIO.
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Outdated modules – a source of valuable raw materials
Photovoltaic panel waste is not only an environmental pollution problem – it contains valuable raw materials that can be returned to industry. During recycling, glass, aluminum, silicon, plastic, copper, silver, and other components can be separated.
“The solar energy industry currently consumes about 20% of all silver mined worldwide, and in a decade this share could reach 30–35%. It may happen that it will be economically more beneficial to extract silver from old solar modules than from the earth,” says T. Radavičius.
However, according to the expert, the reuse of photovoltaic panels is complicated by the significant drop in prices of new solar modules. Due to large subsidies, new modules have in some cases become so cheap that it is economically more viable to replace an old module with a new one rather than reuse it.
“In Germany, there are cases where solar parks replace modules after just 3–5 years because they have become so cheap that it is more profitable to install new, more powerful ones. Then the question arises – where to put the old ones,” says T. Radavičius.
According to the expert, some of these modules are sent outside the European Union and presented as suitable for reuse, but their condition is not always properly checked. “We have cases where modules are shipped to Africa, installed there, and stop working after a week or two. It becomes a kind of lottery,” says the expert.
Photovoltaic panels are recycled in Lithuania
Photovoltaic panels that have become waste and reach legally operating waste managers can be prepared for reuse or recycled.
Lithuania operates the first modern photovoltaic panel waste recycling line in the Baltic States. New technologies allow recycling thousands of tons of photovoltaic panel waste according to high environmental standards. Recycling capacity will be sufficient to manage all such waste generated in Lithuania, and if insufficient quantities are collected, plans exist to recycle panels imported from abroad.
“If we want solar energy to truly be part of the circular economy, we must think about the end of photovoltaic modules’ life cycle when they first enter the market. Otherwise, in a few decades, we will face not only a huge amount of waste but also lose valuable raw materials that we could recover and reuse,” summarizes T. Radavičius.
Unused photovoltaic panels can be handed over free of charge by residents to electronic waste collectors or delivered to bulky waste collection sites. The nearest locations accepting photovoltaic panel waste can be found here.
