EU Parliament, green light to changes to solar panel disposal rules

Brussels – A key green light to end the uncertainty surrounding, for the last few years, recycling standards for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), specifically solar panels: The European Parliament, with an overwhelming majority (628 votes in favour, 3 against, 6 abstentions), gave the go-ahead to the provisional agreement reached at the end of November last year with the EU Council on amendments to the new 2012 WEEE Directive, in response to the partial invalidation stipulated in a 2022 EU Court of Justice ruling.

It all started in 2012 with the entry into force of the 2005 revision of the directive, which brought photovoltaic panels within the scope of EU rules on the disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment. But ten years later the Court of Justice of the EU declared partially invalid some parts of the directive due to unjustified retroactive effects. More specifically, the financing of the costs of collection, treatment, recovery, and disposal of waste applied retroactively to solar panels placed on the market from August 13, 2005: producers “were not in a position to foresee”, at the time of design, that they would have subsequently been required to ensure the financing of the costs of managing the waste originating from the panels themselves.

It is for this reason that on Feb. 7 last year, the EU Commission adopted a proposal to make targeted amendments to the WEEE Directive on these specifications, so as not to undermine legislation that seeks to curb one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the EU, with no small impact on the environment. Computers, refrigerators, smartphones, household appliances and solar panels contain a complex mixture of materials, some of which can cause serious environmental and health problems if decommissioned devices are not handled properly. Added to this is the strategic interest for the Union on the critical materials front, since modern electronics are composed of rare resources that can be recovered through waste recycling.

The green light arrived today from the parliament puts the final seal on the covenant reached on November 21, 2023, with the Spanish rotating presidency of the EU Council, which endorsed the content of the Commission’s initial proposal and further clarified the links to the provisions of the Waste Framework Directive. The amendments now stipulate that the costs of management and disposal of waste from photovoltaic panels placed on the market after August 13, 2012, will be borne by the producer and that extended producer responsibility for products that were added to the scope of the directive in 2018 should apply to electronic equipment placed on the market after that date.

The agreement then introduced a clause by which the commission will have to assess by 2026 the need for a revision of the directive, in which case a new legislative proposal accompanied by a socio-economic and environmental impact assessment will be required. The EU executive will also be responsible for ensuring that the costs of managing waste electrical and electronic equipment are not passed on “disproportionately” to consumers and citizens after the new directive’s transposition period is extended from 12 to 18 months.