{"id":34179,"date":"2023-03-31T11:31:59","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T06:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=34179"},"modified":"2025-04-20T09:40:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T04:10:45","slug":"photovoltaic-waste-indias-solar-push-augurs-a-looming-waste-management-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/photovoltaic-waste-indias-solar-push-augurs-a-looming-waste-management-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Photovoltaic waste: India\u2019s solar push augurs a looming waste management challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is Photovoltaic Waste?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are the Challenges India faces in Photovoltaic waste Management?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How have other Countries Responded?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are the Recent Initiatives of the Indian Government to Reduce Photovoltaic wastes?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is the Way ahead in India\u2019s Photovoltaic waste management?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Even though there has been a concerted push from policymakers in India to transition to a circular economy, <strong>waste management in the solar photovoltaic sector still lacks clear directives<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Photovoltaic Waste?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Globally, India stands <strong>fourth <\/strong>in solar photovoltaic deployment, with a solar power installed capacity of <strong>nearly 62 GW by 2022<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s solar photovoltaic installations are dominated by <strong>crystalline silicon (c-Si) technology.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>A typical photovoltaic panel<\/strong> is made up of 93% of c-Si modules and 7% of cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin film modules.<\/li>\n<li>The metals used to manufacture c-Si modules are <strong>silver, tin, and lead<\/strong>. The CdTe thin film module is made of<strong> glass, encapsulant, and compound semiconductor<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>While this is certainly encouraging, it indicates<strong> a serious issue of solar photovoltaic waste in future.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>According to a report by the <strong>International Renewable Energy Agency,<\/strong> India could generate <strong>50,000-3,25,000 tonnes <\/strong>of cumulative photovoltaic waste by 2030 and more than 4 million tonnes by 2050.\n<ul>\n<li>India is expected to become <strong>one of the top five leading <\/strong>photovoltaic waste producers globally by 2045-2050.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>According to a 2021 report, <strong>approximately 50% of total materials can be recovered <\/strong>through such waste management and recycling processes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the Challenges India faces in Photovoltaic waste Management?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The growing informal handling<\/strong>: Only about 20% of the waste is recovered in general, the rest is treated informally.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Waste accumulation at landfills<\/strong>: This in turn causes <strong>acidification, leaching of toxic metals <\/strong>(such as lead and cadmium) into the soil, and contaminates the local water.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Leading to pollution:<\/strong> Gradual incineration of the panel encapsulant also releases sulphur dioxide, hydrogen fluoride, and hydrogen cyanide into the atmosphere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ignorance of appropriate disposal practices:<\/strong> Among multiple actors and institutions across the supply chain, including producers, owners, consumers, and waste disposal facilities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Small market to repurpose or reuse recycled photovoltaic waste: <\/strong>This is because of a lack of suitable incentives and schemes in which businesses can invest.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The absence of a regulatory body:<\/strong> To measure, monitor, and report solar photovoltaic waste.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How have other Countries Responded?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The European Union\u2019s<\/strong> \u2018Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive\u2019 makes producers responsible for safely and responsibly disposing of end-of-life photovoltaic panels.<\/li>\n<li><strong>In the U.S.<\/strong>, states have the freedom to establish their own solar photovoltaic regulatory standards.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Manufacturers in Japan <\/strong>are responsible for developing environment-friendly recycling technologies through public-private partnerships and launching awareness campaigns about their benefits.<\/li>\n<li><strong>China <\/strong>has introduced an implementation plan for life-cycle management and to improve the resource efficiency of solar photovoltaic panels.\n<ul>\n<li>Chinese researchers are also <strong>developing recycling processes<\/strong> to recover silicon from end-of-life panels and process them back into solar wafers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the Recent Initiatives of the Indian Government to Reduce Photovoltaic wastes?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change\u2019s <strong>revised electronic waste (e-waste) management Rules in 2022<\/strong> brought solar photovoltaic cells, panels, and modules under its ambit.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Green Credit Programme<\/strong> under the Environmental Protection Act 1986, announced in the <strong>2022-2023 Union Budget<\/strong>, aimed to promote green growth and sustainable practices.<\/li>\n<li>The latest <strong>production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme<\/strong> promotes the domestic manufacturing of high-efficiency solar photovoltaic modules.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Way ahead in India\u2019s Photovoltaic waste management<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Avoiding clubbing of photovoltaic waste with other e-waste<\/strong>: India should formulate and implement provisions specific to photovoltaic waste treatment within the ambit of the e-waste guidelines.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A legislative framework <\/strong>to enforce the Extended Producer Responsibility Rules.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A Central insurance or a regulatory body<\/strong> should be set up to protect against financial losses incurred in waste collection and treatment.<\/li>\n<li>To give away the practice of <strong>classifying waste generated from photovoltaic modules<\/strong> as hazardous.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pan-India sensitisation drives and awareness programmes <\/strong>on photovoltaic waste management and clear recycling targets in the photovoltaic waste management policy directive are needed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Paying more attention to domestic R&amp;D efforts<\/strong>. Depending on a single module type will deplete certain natural resources and stunt the local capacity for recycling and recovery of critical materials.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The methods\/best practices of other countries<\/strong> could be a good reference point for India to develop \u2018Made in India\u2019 manufacturing capabilities, recycling technologies, and waste management strategies in this field.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What are the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>It provides for compulsory authorisation of the dismantling and recycling units from the concerned State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)\/ Pollution Control Committees (PCCs).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What is the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>It is an intergovernmental organisation (founded in 2009) mandated to facilitate cooperation, advance knowledge, and promote the adoption and sustainable use of renewable energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/india-solar-push-looming-waste-management-challenge\/article66674910.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>India\u2019s solar push augurs a looming waste management challenge<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photovoltaic waste is the e-waste generated by discarded solar panels<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":34180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}