The Clean Energy Council provided feedback to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW)’s public proposal on regulatory approach to product stewardship for electrical/electronic-products (e-products), solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and small electrical and electronic equipment (SEEE). The CEC and its members are largely supportive of DCCEEW’s proposed model for establishing a recycling stewardship scheme with some amendments that are outlined below.
The CEC and its members support a scheme that is dedicated to solar PV waste, insofar as market failures exist. The submission focused on consumer energy resources in terms of its inclusion in a regulated product stewardship scheme. At the outset, we noted that the products included in solar PV waste scheme are fundamentally different in nature and composition, and therefore the scheme should incorporate a specific and distinct focus on the recycling needs and context of the different products. Recycling of solar PV panels represents a significant market failure and requires government intervention to assist in managing the solar PV panel waste. Other components of solar PV systems – such batteries – are currently being managed by industry and so the CEC recommended not including home energy storage batteries in the scheme.
