The Alberta government is launching a solar panel recycling program that will ban panels from landfills and add a $14 environmental fee to every new panel supplied in the province.
Beginning Oct. 1, Alberta will become the first province in Canada—and jurisdiction in North America—to operate a solar panel recycling program, the government says.
The province says the program is needed because more than 95 percent of solar panels currently installed in Alberta are expected to reach the end of their useful life by 2045, generating about 72,000 tonnes of material that could otherwise end up in landfills.
“Albertans who want a green solution for electricity also want a green solution for end-of-life of solar panels,” Grant Hunter, Environment and Protected Areas minister, said at a Sept. 3 news conference….