Washington DC, USA – May 5, 2021

 

SERI (Sustainable Electronics Recycling International) announces that the R2 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has been presented with a formal change proposal to consider the addition of photovoltaic (PV) panels to the R2 Standard.  The R2 TAC (the multi-stakeholder group that considers and writes revisions to the R2 Standard), previously considered adding PV panels in 2016, but at that time decided to defer their inclusion in the Standard.

However, in 2020 once work was completed on the latest version of the R2 Standard (R2V3), SERI empaneled a workgroup of 24 volunteers consisting of stakeholders form the solar industry to reevaluate.  The Workgroup met over 6 months to assess the suitability of including PV Panels in this version of the R2 Standard and has now formally presented such a proposal to the R2 TAC to consider.

SERI’s Executive Director Corey Dehmey remarked, “The PV industry is extremely progressive.  With much foresight, they took the initiative to create a sustainable plan for when solar panels are removed from use.  There are hundreds of R2 Certified facilities in 33 countries around the world who currently do or could relatively easily include PV panels to their service offering.  We see this as a great way to quickly build reuse and recycling infrastructure for the environmentally sound management of PV panels.”

If accepted, SERI would next add PV industry stakeholders as new members to the R2 TAC, and work would begin to add on PV panel requirements to the R2 Standard.  Within the core requirements of the R2 Standard, such revisions are anticipated to be relatively minor and only affect those facilities that accept PV panels and their specific handling processes. SERI anticipates incorporating PV panels into the Standard would entail 2+ years of development, public review and comment, and revision until possible adoption.

 

SERI would like to thank the following individuals and companies that participated in the workgroup.

 

SERI PV Group Members

Andreas Wade, First Solar

Evelyn Butler, SEIA, Solar Energy Industries Association

Kevin Borgia, Canadian Solar

Beverly Kennedy, Global Electronics Council

Garvin Heath, NREL, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Mark Harris, Southern Company

Chris Newman, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Jake West, Tesla

Nicholas Smith, Dominion Energy

Curt Spivey, Cascade

Jan Clyncke, PV Cycle

Sam Vanderhoof, Recycle PV Solar

David Thompson, Panasonic

Jeremy Garcia, Arizona Public Service

Dwight Clark, We Recycle Solar

Jessica Citrola, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality

Stephanie Shaw, EPRI, Electric Power Research Institute

Ed Mopas, SunPower

John Gilkeson, Minnesota Pollution Control

Tommy McGuire, Echo Environmental

Eszter Voroshazi, imec

Karsten Wambach, bifa Umweltinstitut GmbH

Ullrich Didszun, UDZ Consult

 

 

About SERI

SERI (Sustainable Electronics Recycling International) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States with a mission is to help create a world where electronic products are reused and recycled in a way that promotes resource preservation, the well-being of the natural environment, and the health and safety of workers and communities.  SERI has numerous programs working to protect the planet and enrich lives by championing sustainable actions throughout the entire electronics lifecycle. SERI is an ANSI Accredited Standards Developer that develops the R2 Standard and oversees the R2 certification program.  To learn more, visit https://sustainableelectronics.org