In this edition, we sat down with two leading voices in Australia’s circular economy for renewable energy: Katharine Hole, CEO of the Association for the Battery Recycling Industry (ABRI), and Megan Jones, CEO and Co-Founder of the Circular PV Alliance (CPVA).
Why are reusability and recyclability critical to renewable energy?
Megan: There’s a broad and growing appreciation for reusability and recyclability, especially to extend the life of scarce and high-value resources like silicon, silver and cobalt required to roll out projects at-scale. As an example, there is more refined silver in the 140 million solar panels installed in Australia than in Australia’s largest silver deposit near Mudgee. As opposed to extracting virgin materials, sending them overseas for refinement and then buying them back at a premium, we’ve got this amazing opportunity to recover silver or silicon from solar panels and offer this as a supplementary source of precious metals and materials to the market.
From a reuse perspective, the embedded energy and value contained in a solar panel makes it worthy of having a as long a lifespan as possible. Our research has found that solar panels can be reused in certain circumstances and can provide a quality, low-cost solar energy option. As an organisation that promotes circularity, we believe reuse is a critical part of a solar panel’s lifecycle.
Katharine: It’s incredibly important as policy, regulatory and corporate priorities are driving lithium battery reuse and recycling. Increasingly, local councils, like Muswellbrook, require recycling as part of planning consent conditions, financiers require developers to demonstrate end-of-life planning and community expects circularity, and communities expect minimal end of life impact. There’s also corporate sustainability reporting and ESG goals to consider as drivers for reuse and recycling.
From a resource recovery perspective, research from Edith Cowan University shows that recycling lithium batteries uses 61% less carbon emissions compared to mining, indicating a more sustainable way to recover key resources. The Institute for Sustainable Futures at UTS has shown that by 2050, resource recovery for cobalt could exceed 100% of Australia’s current mine production. Ultimately, we need the materials and it’s much better if they come from secondary resources to preserve our critical mineral stores and reduce reliance on volatile supply chains in a sustainable way.
What are key challenges to reuseability and recyclability practices?
Megan: The lack of a harmonised national stewardship framework is a major challenge. Victoria has a landfill ban for solar panels, which is a great tool, but when used in isolation, it can be bypassed by exporting waste interstate or disposing the separate parts in landfill. This undermines the potential to reuse and recycle. For example, we can recover at least 99% of materials from a solar panel, but in the past, it has been common for the high-value parts of the solar panel like the solar cells to be dumped, as it is a complex and more costly process to recover those materials. There are some fantastic operators in Australia investing developing technology to make the recovery of these high-value materials more affordable. We need a harmonised framework with “carrots” and “sticks” to incentivise solar panel reuse and recycling. We developed CPVA Certified[1] as a “carrot” to positively encourage best practice by giving project developers something that they can embed into, and have validate, the circularity credentials of their project from the start. The recently released Productivity Commission report into the circular economy specifically recommends national product stewardship harmonisation, which if done well, will be a great step in the right direction to overcome these challenges.[2]
Katharine: For grid-scale 40-50 tonne batteries, whilst batteries are recyclable and being recycled, the industry is not yet at scale and is still establishing standardised practices. These batteries are still pretty new in terms of being rolled out at-scale and not yet commercially viable to recycle, with logistics costs a significant factor. Cultural change and education are also critical. People aren’t aware that you can recycle minerals out of a battery just like minerals out of a rock. Logistics is crucial too – we encourage everyone to reverse engineer how you’re going to get these batteries out at end of life and have a plan in place early.
What should project proponents consider when designing for circularity?
Katharine: The common themes emerging from discussions with developers are quality and durability of the product, and what arrangements are in place for warranties and maintenance, repair and take-back. That all links to contractual discussion with the OEM. I also suggest engaging with a recycler upfront. You might not set up a contractual arrangement with them, but they have valuable experience and it’s a great learning opportunity. Leverage what’s happening and known already – you do not need to start from scratch.
Megan: I agree. In our CPVA Certified framework, the first mandatory standard is to have a relationship with a recycler or circularity service provider upfront. You can discuss design, operations and maintenance planning, and a waste management strategy to set the project up efficiently.
We’re asking project proponents: ‘are you requesting sustainability credentials from suppliers?’ ‘What’s the embodied carbon?’ ‘Is there recycled content?’ The answer is generally not right now, but by asking these questions, feedback gets fed back into the supply chain and starts to shift the needle. We’re creating a market trigger to effect behaviour change throughout the supply chain. There is no best practice standard, and the certification will evolve over time as the market matures.
How will the recycling landscape change with technological and regulatory advancements?
Katharine: Lithium battery recycling is a growth opportunity in Australia. Given our mining and metallurgical expertise, we are well placed to develop global long-term battery recycling solutions. Indeed, Australian businesses and universities are actively developing and commercialising technology to support the growth. There’s opportunity now for the renewable energy sector to lead and pursue innovative, safe and sustainable solutions to support battery circularity – Kwinana Industrial Area in WA is a great example of implementing strategies to support circular economy across multiple sites. This could be explored for REZs.
Major overseas jurisdictions, such as Europe, China, India, Japan and Korea are mandating a range of measures – recycling, track-and-trace, recycled content and/or focusing on critical minerals security by mandatory processing of batteries in country. From a developer perspective, the question will be how and when this will apply in Australia and how does it link back to developer environmental claims and ESG reporting.
Mandatory producer responsibility is on the radar of state governments, albeit currently for small batteries. With numerous government inquiries and reports continuing to explore this issue across all battery applications, industry is watching this space to see what happens next.
Megan: The recent Productivity Commission report and national pilot project will help drive regulatory and technology capabilities, so I expect we’ll see a lot more investment and movement in the market following this. We’ll see multiple decentralised recycling facilities near high population areas or renewable energy zones to reduce logistics costs. Alternatively, you’d partner with rail or freight companies to cover logistics as we expand to rural areas. The technology will continue to evolve – there’s great work at University of Newcastle, RMIT and UNSW on extracting high-grade silver efficiently and sustainably at minimal cost. There will also be a greater focus on continuing to build evidence around reuse, not just recycling, to help offset the environmental and manufacturing cost of building solar panels by maximising the lifespan of its materials.
From a regulatory perspective, we support recycling and reuse for projects in local jurisdictions, but we’ll plug into state governmental level legislation. At the moment, it looks like products stewardship for solar panels will be led at the federal level, with states controlling any supporting legislation or regulatory reform required to support this.
What practical steps should proponents take now?
Renewable energy developers and asset owners in Australia must proactively integrate circularity planning into project design from the outset, rather than treating it as an afterthought. This means establishing relationships with recyclers or circularity service providers early in the development phase, reverse-engineering decommissioning logistics before installation, and engaging in contractual discussions with original equipment manufacturers about product durability, warranties, maintenance, repair and take-back arrangements.
This forward-thinking approach is becoming increasingly critical as planning approvals – such as those required by councils like Muswellbrook – now require recycling provisions, whilst financiers demand demonstrated end-of-life strategies and ESG commitments. Moreover, with mandatory extended producer responsibility potentially arriving within the next few years and global regulatory frameworks demanding recycled content and track-and-trace capabilities, developers who embed sustainable circularity principles from project inception will not only secure social licence and planning consent more readily, but will also future-proof their projects against evolving regulatory requirements whilst contributing to resource security. The message is clear. Circularity is no longer optional, it’s a fundamental project design consideration that should be addressed before breaking ground.
About ABRI: The Association for the Battery Recycling Industry represents the entire battery supply chain, developing circular economy practises for batteries used in energy storage systems, electric vehicles and grid-scale installations.
About CPVA: The Circular PV Alliance is the national peak body wholly dedicated to supporting the Australian solar sector’s transition into a circular economy through research, partnerships, certification frameworks and network building.
This Expert Insights article was prepared by the Hamilton Locke New Energy team following a discussion with Katharine Hole and Megan Jones.
[1] ‘CPVA Certified’ is a certification program developed by the CPVA to embed sustainable circularity principles into the design, development and implementation of solar energy projects. ‘CPVA Certified’, Circular PV Australia (Web Page) https://www.circularpv.com.au/copy-of-cpva-certified.
[2] Productivity Commission, Circular Economy: Inquiry Report (Report No 101, 28 February 2024) https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries-and-research/circular-economy/report/.
