Recently, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment launched a discussion on the obligatory recycling of waste solar panels. The solar panels, which were widely installed in various places after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, are expected to be largely discarded due to their service life in the second half of the 2030s, and the discussion aims to establish an appropriate disposal system.
The Japanese government has set a goal of achieving a decarbonized society by 2050, and is expected to see greater adoption of solar power. Failure to properly dispose of it could result in a shortage of landfill disposal sites.
The Ministry of the Environment will promote the design of the system, based on the revision of the "Construction Recycling Act" that stipulates the obligation to recycle waste building materials, add the target species, and require the demolition business and other companies to realize the recycling plan. The new law of the board is brought into view. The bill hopes to be brought to the regular Congress in 2024 as soon as possible.
The recycling fee is assumed to be borne by businesses and households that own solar panels, but it will be discussed carefully in order to avoid hindering the introduction of solar power generation.
The Environment Ministry has issued guidelines calling on people to use second-hand solar panels or recycle them, but it's really up to businesses to judge. The Ministry of the Environment plans to conduct an actual survey on the disposal of solar panels this year and next. In addition, it has written "rapid discussions" in the "Circular Economy Schedule" formulated this summer to create a system to promote second-hand use and recycling.
The "Construction and Reuse Law" stipulates that enterprises must classify the wood and concrete generated during the demolition of buildings or bridges to realize recycling. The Ministry of the Environment believes that if solar panels are included in the law, the amount of landfill disposal can be suppressed.
The lifespan of solar panels is 20 to 30 years, and there are cases where they are damaged due to natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons. Only from the situation that the Ministry of the Environment conducted inquiries about some enterprises from 2019 to 2021, there will be 6,000 to 7,000 solar panels per year. tons of waste. The Ministry of the Environment estimates that it may increase to a maximum of 800,000 tons by the second half of the 1930s.
