Western Australia was one of the first places to install rooftop solar. It is now one of the first places to face what comes next. Systems installed during the boom of the early 2010s are reaching the end of their working lives. Every upgrade, every storm-damaged array and every tired old system raises the same question. What happens to the panels once they come off the roof?
For a long time, the honest answer was poor. That is changing fast. New recycling capacity has opened in Perth, backed by real government investment. This guide explains what a solar panel is made of. It explains why a panel should never go to landfill. It also covers what is happening in WA in 2026, and how the best panels get a second life instead of being scrapped.
Why End-of-Life Solar Is Suddenly a Big Topic
Solar panels last a long time. They commonly run for twenty-five to thirty years or more. So the waste question always sat comfortably in the future. That future has now arrived. The first large wave of Australian rooftop systems is being retired or upgraded. The volumes will climb steeply from here.
Australia currently recycles only around 17% of retired solar panels. Most of the rest goes to landfill, gets stockpiled, or is exported. By 2035, the country is expected to generate roughly one million tonnes of solar panel waste. That is the equivalent of about fifty million panels. Handling that responsibly is the challenge the industry and government are now racing to solve.
What a Solar Panel Is Actually Made Of
A solar panel is a simple object. It is mostly glass and aluminium, with a small amount of silicon and tiny amounts of valuable metals. That matters, because almost all of it can be recovered and used again. Dedicated recyclers can reclaim up to around 90% of a panel by weight.
Material Share of panel Recovered for
Glass Around 70 to 75% New glass and construction materials
Aluminium frame Around 10 to 15% New aluminium products
Silicon cells Around 3 to 5% Recovered silicon
Copper, silver and polymers Small amounts Copper and silver recovery, wiring
Seen this way, an old panel is closer to a bundle of useful resources than a piece of rubbish. Sending it to landfill buries glass, aluminium and even small amounts of silver. Those materials could have gone back into the economy.
Why Landfill Is the Wrong Answer
Landfilling solar panels wastes materials that are genuinely worth recovering. It also squanders the environmental benefit the panel was bought for. A rooftop system spends decades generating clean power and offsetting emissions. Ending its life in a hole in the ground undoes part of that good work at the very last step.
The scale is the other problem. A handful of panels is easy to ignore. Fifty million of them is a different matter. Building the habit and the infrastructure to recycle now is far easier while the volumes are still manageable. Catching up once the wave has fully arrived would be much harder.
What Is Happening in Western Australia in 2026
The encouraging news is that WA is moving from talking about the problem to building the solution. A dedicated solar panel recycling facility, operated by Cyber Recycling, has opened in Canning Vale in Perth’s south-east. It gives the state local capacity to process end-of-life panels, instead of shipping them elsewhere.
That is backed by real funding. The Western Australian Government has committed 17.8 million dollars to solar module and battery recycling in its 2026-27 State Budget. This is part of the Remade in WA initiative. A large share is set aside to build collection, transport and processing pathways. This covers panels from both households and solar farms. At the national level, a solar panel recycling pilot was announced in January 2026. It will collect and process panels from around 100 sites, to build the data and systems for a lasting national scheme. The direction is clear. Recycling is becoming the expected path, not the exception.
What Happens to Your Old Panels When You Upgrade
For most households, end-of-life is not a distant event. It is a practical moment: the day an old system is upgraded, expanded or replaced. When the old panels come off the roof, they should not go into a skip bin or the household waste. The right path is to have the team carrying out the work collect them. This is also the moment when the best panels can be set aside for reuse, rather than scrapped.
This is one of the quiet advantages of using an established local team for an upgrade. A responsible team manages the removal of old panels and directs each one into reuse or recycling as part of the job. This saves a homeowner from working out what to do with a stack of old panels.
Better Than Recycling: A Second Life for Working Panels
Recycling is the right answer for a panel that has genuinely reached the end of its life. Many panels that come off Perth roofs, though, are still working well. A system is often replaced or expanded long before its panels stop working. This might be to fit a larger array, add a battery, or modernise an ageing setup. Those panels can have years of useful generation left in them. The greenest thing to do with a working panel is to keep it working, not to shred it.
This is where Positive Energy Solutions goes a step further than most. Every panel removed from a roof is tested by dedicated team members, to check whether it still generates as it should. Panels that pass are given a second life. They are sent to support off-grid solar projects in communities across Africa. Reliable power is scarce there, and a working panel is genuinely valuable. A panel that has already paid for itself on a Perth roof goes on to a new life. It lights homes, charges phones and runs equipment somewhere it is needed most.
Only the panels that genuinely fail testing are sent for recycling, where their glass, aluminium and metals are recovered. It is the waste hierarchy in action: reuse first, recycle second, and landfill never.
The Greenest Panel Is the One That Lasts Longest
Recycling is the right destination. The best way to reduce solar waste is to make each panel last as long as possible. A panel that works reliably for thirty years does far more good than one replaced after twelve. It also creates far less waste. Durability and long-term performance are therefore an environmental choice as much as a financial one.
This is part of why Positive Energy Solutions installs SunPower panels. They are built for an exceptionally long working life and carry a warranty to match. Keeping a system healthy matters too. Regular monitoring catches faults early and helps a system reach its full lifespan, rather than failing prematurely. Every Positive Energy Solutions installation includes Positive Energy Protection, powered by Omnidian. It monitors performance from day one and helps each system live out its full working life, before recycling is ever needed.
How Positive Energy Solutions Approaches End-of-Life
Positive Energy Solutions treats the whole lifecycle of a system as its responsibility, not just the install. This means choosing durable panels that stay out of the waste stream for as long as possible. It means keeping systems performing through monitoring and local support. It also means handling old panels responsibly when a system is finally upgraded or replaced. Panels are tested for reuse first. Working panels are given a second life through off-grid projects overseas. Only genuinely spent panels are routed into WA’s growing recycling network. As a local Perth company, Positive Energy Solutions makes sure none of it ends up in landfill.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Positive Energy Solutions do with my old panels?
Every panel removed from a roof is tested by the Positive Energy Solutions team. Panels that still generate well are given a second life. They support off-grid solar projects in communities across Africa, where reliable power is scarce. Only panels that genuinely fail testing are sent for recycling, and none go to landfill.
Can old solar panels be recycled?
Yes. A solar panel is mostly glass and aluminium. Dedicated recyclers can recover up to around 90% of it by weight. This includes the glass, the metal frame, and small amounts of silicon, copper and silver.
Can I put old solar panels in landfill or hard rubbish in WA?
This is strongly discouraged, and WA is actively building recycling pathways to keep panels out of landfill. Old panels should go to a dedicated recycler, rather than into general waste or a skip bin. A good team will handle this as part of an upgrade.
What happens to my old panels when I upgrade my system?
When the old panels come off the roof, a responsible team collects them. They direct the panels into the recycling stream rather than to landfill. This means the household is spared having to arrange disposal separately.
How long before my solar panels need replacing?
Quality panels commonly last twenty-five to thirty years or more. Good design, durable panels and regular monitoring all help a system reach the far end of that range. This is the best way to reduce waste.
A Cleaner End for a Clean Technology
Solar power spends its whole life doing good, and its final chapter should match. Local recycling capacity is now open in Perth, backed by real investment. There is no longer any reason for an old panel to end up in landfill. Positive Energy Solutions designs systems to last, keeps them performing, and handles them responsibly at the end.
Talk to the local team about a system built to last. It is looked after responsibly from install to endof-life: positiveenergy.com.au/contact/
About the Author
Jason Wiktorowicz
Sales Manager, Positive Energy Solutions | Perth, WA
Jason has been at the centre of Western Australia’s energy transition for over a decade. Jason was Orchestration Lead on Project Symphony, WA’s largest virtual power plant pilot. He was also Stream Lead on Project Encore. In these roles, he worked directly with AEMO, Western Power and Energy Policy WA. Together they shaped how distributed energy resources connect and operate on the SWIS. That work included developing and rolling out CSIP-AUS, now mandatory for all new WA grid connections. He also led Emergency Solar Management, the first program of its kind in WA. He also led VPP for Schools, which gave direct market benefits through Supplementary Reserve Capacity. He also led REBAR, the WA Residential Battery Rebate scheme.
His earlier career spanned Synergy, Infinite Energy and Curtin University’s Sustainability Policy Institute. There, he co-authored peer-reviewed research on net-zero urban precincts, solar integration and peer-to-peer energy trading. This was published in the journal Urban Planning in 2018.
At Positive Energy Solutions, Jason leads sales with a focus on system design accuracy and long-term performance. Positive Energy Solutions installs solar and battery systems, EV chargers and heat pumps. It holds partner accreditations with Fronius, SigEnergy, iStore and SunPower.
10-year installation workmanship warranty. Positive Energy Protection, powered by Omnidian, performance monitoring included on all systems.
