6 months ago
2
India is projected to make astir 11 cardinal tonnes of solar waste by 2047, mostly from crystalline-silicon modules, according to 2 studies published connected Thursday (November 6, 2025).
Managing this discarded would necessitate astir 300 recycling plants crossed the state and an concern of astir ₹4,200 crore, said the studies by Delhi-based deliberation vessel Council connected Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
The studies besides said that recovering and reusing materials from discarded solar panels could make a ₹3,700-crore marketplace accidental by 2047.
If this imaginable is realised, recovering invaluable materials specified arsenic silicon, copper, aluminium and metallic from star discarded could conscionable 38% of the sector’s manufacturing inputs successful 2047 and debar 37 cardinal tonnes of c emissions by replacing virgin resources with recycled ones.
India's star module recycling marketplace is presently astatine a precise aboriginal stage, with lone a fewer commercialized recyclers operating.
The CEEW studies supply India's archetypal broad blueprint for gathering a home star recycling ecosystem that supports some cleanable vigor and manufacturing self-reliance.
Rishabh Jain, Fellow, CEEW, said, "India's star gyration tin powerfulness a caller greenish concern opportunity. By embedding circularity into our cleanable vigor systems, we tin retrieve captious minerals, fortify proviso chains and make greenish jobs portion turning imaginable discarded into lasting value. Building this circular system is astir important for India's resilient and liable growth."
The CEEW studies besides said that star recycling successful a ceremonial setup remains unviable today, with recyclers facing losses of ₹10,000-12,000 per tonne.
The biggest operational disbursal is buying backmost discarded modules, which accounts for astir two-thirds of the full (around ₹600 per panel), followed by processing, postulation and disposal costs.
For recycling to go profitable, modules would request to beryllium priced beneath ₹330 oregon recyclers supported done EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) certificate trading, taxation incentives and R&D investments successful businesslike betterment of silicon and silver, the studies said.
Akanksha Tyagi, Programme Lead, CEEW, said, "Solar recycling tin beryllium the span betwixt India's cleanable vigor and manufacturing ambitions. Beyond managing waste, it's an accidental to innovate by designing panels for easier recovery, improving worldly purity and creating caller worth chains astir captious minerals.
"Introducing EPR targets, creating request for circular products, improving information transparency and designing for recyclability could crook India’s star discarded situation into a greenish manufacture opportunity," she said.
To alteration large-scale adoption, the CEEW studies urge EPR targets for postulation and betterment nether the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022, led by the Environment Ministry, and a Circular Solar Taskforce nether the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to align policy, concern and manufacture action.
They besides suggest a centralised star inventory to place discarded hotspots and impulse producers to stock worldly information and plan modules for casual disassembly.
