FAQ

PV CYCLE stands out from other Producer Responsibility Organisations  through several key aspects that highlight its unique commitment to sustainability, innovation, and environmental responsibility, especially in the specific field of photovoltaic power systems  :

• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Compliance: PV CYCLE helps its participants  complying with Extended Producer Responsibility obligations, ensuring that manufacturers, importers and anyone placing for the first time a photovoltaic panel, an inverter or a battery on the territory of a country of the European Union or in other countries or regions where EPR for products for photovoltaic power systems exist (e.g. South Africa) take up their share of responsibility for the end-of-life management (being collection, treatment and financing of these operations) of these products.
• Specialization in Photovoltaic Panels and ancillary equipment : PV CYCLE is the first global organization which already organized the collection and recycling of photovoltaic panels since 2007 and far before the Extended Producer Responsibility obligations triggered by the EU WEEE Directive in 2014 started. one of the few organizations globally that specializes in the recycling of photovoltaic panels. This focus allows for the development of specialized processes and technologies tailored to the unique materials and construction of PV panels.
• Specialization in collection, waste treatment and recycling of photovoltaic panels in a realistic mode: since its foundation PV CYCLE applies an approach known as Best Available Techniques Not Exceeding Excessive Costs (BATNEEC); PV CYCLE strives to find the optimum whereby the organization searches for waste treatment plants which are able to recover as good as economically possible the materials of a laminated flat glass sheet, i.e. photovoltaic panel.
  There is only one definition of recovery and one definition of recycling.
  PV CYCLE believes in each waste treatment plant and recycler which is able in a competitive environment – and hence not subsidized by local, regional or national funding -  to recover the materials in order that at the end of the works, the net cost is as low as possible for the Producer and the environmental objectives of EPR are met.
  Wordings such as downcycling, high value recycling or high tech recycling do not exist in any waste legislation and are only hitting the charts on social media accounts but not in the real waste bin.
• Comprehensive  Network of Participants : the organization is backed by a wide network of participants  from across the photovoltaic industry, including manufacturers, importers,  distributors and installers which all play their role in Extended Producer Responsibility. This broad  base of contractual participants supports a collective approach to responsibility and sustainability within the industry.
• International Coverage: Unlike many other recycling systems that often operate within a limited geographical framework of one country, PV CYCLE offers since its foundation an international reach, enabling the management and the recycling of photovoltaic panels waste across multiple countries, adapting its services to regional and local legislations and needs.
• Awareness and Education: PV CYCLE plays an active role in raising awareness among stakeholders and the general public about the importance of collecting and recycling photovoltaic panels and the financing of these operations by offering educational support  and organizing information campaigns.
• Transparent and Sustainable Operations: the organization is committed to transparency in its operations, providing stakeholders with detailed information about its collection and recycling processes, the yield of recovered materials.
• Collaboration with Research Institutions: PV CYCLE collaborates with academic and research institutions to enhance further research in the waste treatment of photovoltaic panels, aiming to improve continuouslythe recovery  processes and the recycling yield.
• Full  Service approach: in addition to offering EPR-compliance and recycling, PV CYCLE offers a range of complementary services, such as logistical support before the start of collection and transport such as operational and safety instructions ,  auditing of the reported numbers by Producers, and a broad range of  consultancy through webinars, newsletters and other educational tools.
  
  
  

Extended Producer Responsibility can be implemented through different ways or a combination of these options.

In the European Union, we usually encounter a combination of take-back with economic instruments and – the latest trend – standards represented by requirements of minimum recycled content. In a few words, we explain the different ways in the next paragraphs.

1. Product take-back
   The most active use of EPR, under both voluntary and mandatory schemes, is in product take-back. EPR is applied to specific products (e.g. cars), product categories (e.g. electric and electronic equipment) or waste streams (e.g. packaging) that are to be taken back or returned. This type of program is often associated with targets for collection and recycling and/or reuse.
   
   
2. Economic instruments
   Whereas take-back requirements use the assignment of responsibility to the producer for the end-of-life management of their products to meet the policy objectives, economic instruments can also be used toward the same objectives. Listed below are economic instruments that can be used to effectuate EPR policy. These instruments provide a direct financial incentive for actors to implement EPR. Examples of economic instruments that can be targeted to meet EPR objectives include deposit- refund schemes, advance disposal fees, and taxes and/or subsidies.
   
   
3. Standards
   a)            Minimum recycled content requirements
   A target of a minimum amount of recycled content (or secondary materials) per product can be set (like a performance standard). While minimum recycled content requirements are a performance standard per se, they also encourage taking back of materials for recycling or re-use of the product. The producers and intermediaries generally take on the physical responsibility (or an agreed combination thereof).
   
   
4. Other industry-based measures
   There are initiatives that businesses may take that would meet similar objectives to EPR. Public policy makers would not be responsible for such policies per se, but could help create conditions to stimulate these activities.   One measure is leasing where ownership of a product never terminates.         Another measure is a concept based on the new economy in which there is a transition from selling a product to offering a service, so-called Product Service Systems (PSS). The best-known examples today are car and bicycle sharing.
   
   In general, implementing EPR always involves several steps where the public authorities play an important role. Without going into details per country, a classical implementation process works as follows:
   
   Approval request: Producers or Producer Responsibility Organisations (PRO) such as PV CYCLE  submit a request to the public authorities under the form of a management plan which includes a financial plan, an operational plan, a marketing and communication plan  justifying their ability to meet for example the collection, recovery, recycling and preparation for reuse targets, or the targets related to financial provisions . A PRO  must also demonstrate the establishment of a financial guarantee.
   
   Financial contribution: Producers finance the collection, the transport, and waste treatment  of their products through a compliance fee which might have different names but has the same objective (e.g. contribution fee or environmental contribution fee or eco-participation fee,….).
   
   Communication and education obligations: Producers and PRO’s  must inform and educate consumers and waste holders how they can dispose their PV Panels, inverters or any other product under Producer Responsibility, about the importance of sorting at the source and about the added value of recovering materials and return these into a circular economy.
   
   Monitoring and reporting: Producers and are required to regularly report the amounts in pieces or tonnes they have placed on the market and the amount of tonnes which were collected and properly recycled.PRO’s are combining all these data on behalf of the Producers , participants of their Scheme, and report these in aggregated form to the public authorities. The appropriate country is then able to report these numbers as ‘country’ to the European Commission in order the European Union can publish the overall achieved results.
   
   
   

The WEEE legislation provides two options:

• a) Joining a Producer Responsibility Organisation
  A Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) organizes the compliance with Extended Producer Responsibility obligations – as they exist for example under the WEEE Directive – on behalf of the ‘individual’ Producers which join the PRO as ‘Participants’.
  
  Main advantages are:
  -      Scaling up costs and administration.
  -      PRO speaks on behalf of all the Producers which have joined the PRO as ‘Participants’ and this creates a stronger representation towards the public authorities;
  -      Governance is organized ànd managed by the Producers in the General Assembly and Board of Directors (and/or Executive Committee when applicable);
  -      Efficient cost management when organizing collection, transport, waste treatment compared to individual approach;
  
  
• b) Applying yourself for an Individual Responsibility Organisation

Organizing as Producer your own individual responsibility is allowed.

However, take into account that the assessment of how the individual Producer complies with the WEEE obligations is at the same level as for a PRO.

This means that what a PRO organizes – for example - for hundreds of Producers must in the case of ‘Individual Plan’ be organized by the individual Producer.

This means the individual Producer must show how he shall collect, treat and prepare for reuse all his EEE; how he shall finance historical, current and future costs; how he shall avoid that his WEEE is not ending in the waste collection channels of the or more PRO’s in the country; how he shall foresee the financial guarantee; etcetera.

To put in perspective the financing, we first present - as a reminder - what are the responsibilities of a Producer Responsibility Organisation or an individual Producer under EPR.

PRO’s include both familiar governance functions such as:

• policy formulation,
• stakeholder consultation,
• monitoring of the reported amounts through audits,
• monitoring of the technical and environmental performance of the waste treatment plants the PRO’s are working with,
• promotion of compliance to avoid free-riders,
• enforcement towards correct reporting,
• enforcement to  free-riders,

and some functions or requirements with an important impact on the finances that are more specific to the specific dimensions of EPR, such as:

• coordination through clearinghouses and their corresponding costs;
• the organization of collection and waste treatment of the concerned waste streams within municipal collection channels (door-to-door or through public collection points), so-called ‘household waste’;
• when applicable in the PRO, the organization of the collection and waste treatment of the concerned waste streams within commercial and industrial businesses, so-called ‘professional waste’;
• Investing (a limited percentage) in Research & Development of for example improving the recovery of the materials of the waste; in some countries this percentage is defined by the public authorities;
• the requirement by public authorities to foresee provisions for future waste management costs; this is often ignored, however it represents a significant amount of the collected funds;
• the requirement by law or by public authorities to provide a financial guarantee, which have several forms; a common approach is to foresee funding for all operational costs covering 12 to 18 months of a PRO;
• Financial penalties which Producers or PRO’s must pay when they do not achieve the defined collection and/or recovery, recycling targets and other performance targets;
• Taxes imposed by public authorities;

The Financing under EPR is mainly organized under two options:

• Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) or Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) or
• Pay-As-You-Put (PAYT)

PAYG mechanism finances the waste occurring in the running year. It is a model which works fine when the Producer or PRO deals a short lifetime of the product under EPR.

In PAYG, in the short term the costs are relatively low, but the bulk of the costs pop up when the waste is generated. For products with a (very) short lifetime, this is no issue; for products with a (very) long lifetime, PAYG is high risk financing model because it is uncertain if the Producer will still be there at the time the waste occurs. For (very) long lifetime products, the PAYG model creates as well free-riders.

PAYP is an advanced fee which is paid at the time of purchase of the product by the Purchaser – household or business – and which covers all costs. In many situations, the PAYP mechanism works with a ‘visible fee’, meaning the amount of the fee is displayed in a separate line on the invoice and the waste owner is allowed to dispose his waste – at the end of the short or ling lifetime of the product – free of costs within the collection channels organized by the Producer or the PRO.

Especially for products with a (very) long lifetime – such as photovoltaic panels – the PAYP mechanism is the best financing option. Moreover, the risk of free-riders is in PAYP almost limited to zero.

Free-riders are companies who are not compliant with the obligations of their EU-27 and/or UK national WEEE legislation and:

• misleadingly use the name and logo of a certified WEEE Producer Responsibility Organisation  and/or
• market electrical and electronic equipment or PV Panels at the cost of compliant competitors and/or
• in a nutshell, are fooling the market.

while in reality do not contribute to the financial and physical responsibility imposed by the legislation.

Non-compliance is subject to administrative and criminal prosecution, potentially resulting in fines, prison as well as a ban on trade. (see Q. 10 above)

The lifetime of PV CYCLE can so far be divided into two periods:

• Period 2007 – end of 2013; and
• Period 2014 -  …………

Period 2007 – 2013

During the first seven years of PV CYCLE, there was one non-for-profit association, which has been set up by the European photovoltaic industry association (Solar Power Europe, previously EPIA), the German photovoltaic industry association (BSW) and five private companies originating from the photovoltaic industry (mainly manufacturers).

In those years, the Board of Directors of PV CYCLE allowed that the PV CYCLE Logo could be used by its members in their communication materials such as instruction manuals, fact sheets or marketing material to show its membership. The logo has never been approved as a compliance label by the PV CYCLE Board nor its General Assembly. Displaying the PV CYCLE Logo on the back of the PV Panel has never been recommended by PV CYCLE and is the sole responsibility of the manufacturer or the distributor.
The PV CYCLE Logo is no proof that the waste management of PV Panels from the concerned brand is financed for the future.

In this first period, the members were only financing the waste which occurred in the year of their membership. This means that only a very, very limited amount of the waste occurring during that specific year was financed. Moreover, with a fee at that time of barely 2 (!) EUR/ton, it is not possible at all to secure any financing for future waste management costs.

Period 2014 - ….

Also since the Extended Producer Responsibility obligations caused by the WEEE legislation entered into force, the Board of Directors of PV CYCLE maintained the decisions of the previous period:

• PV CYLE Logo can be used by its Participants (now contractual members to which compliance services are rendered) in their communication materials such as instruction manuals, fact sheets or marketing material to show their participation to PV CYCLE as PRO during their contractual term.
• The PV CYCLE Logo is not a compliance label.
• Displaying the PV CYCLE Logo on the back of the PV Panel has never been recommended by PV CYCLE and is and remains the sole responsibility of the manufacturer or the distributor.

The PV CYCLE Logo is no proof that the waste management of PV Panels from the concerned brand is financed for the future.

PV CYCLE LOGO is a Trademark and registered in the European Union and many other countries and regions across the globe. PV CYCLE has a series of measurements in place to fight against companies which illegally or incorrectly using the PV CYCLE Logo.

PV CYCLE issues annually a Certificate – upon individual request – to each Participant.

There are different Certificates depending on your contractual relation with PV CYCLE and depending on which countries or regions, the company has a contractual relation with PV CYCLE.

There are certain products that must comply with minimum requirements related to energy efficiency. These are called “ECODESIGN” requirements and the aim is to reduce the negative environmental impact throughout the product's lifecycle.

Before one places this type of product on the European market, one must ensure that they comply with these rules.

The product types currently covered by these rules are those that use energy (boilers, computers, household appliances etc.).

There are two types of requirements foreseen in the Ecodesign Directive.

I.                     Specific requirements

Specific requirements are when exact values are measured and a limit is given. For example, maximum energy consumption, or minimum quantities of recycled material to be used in production.

II.                    Generic requirements

Generic requirements do not set limit values, but may require that:

• the product is 'energy-efficient' or 'recyclable';
• you provide information on how to use and maintain the product, to minimise its environmental impact;
• you perform a lifecycle analysis of the product to identify alternative design options and solutions for improvement

The introduction of new minimum requirements can result in a ban of all non-compliant products from being sold in European countries. An example of this is incandescent lamps, which were gradually phased out from 2009.

Ecodesign and WEEE Directive ?

Article 4 of the WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU requires that Member States shall, without prejudice to the requirements of Union legislation on the proper functioning of the internal market and on product design, including the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC, encourage cooperation between producers and recyclers and measures to promote the design and production of EEE, notably in view of facilitating re-use, dismantling and recovery of WEEE, its components and materials. In this context, Member States shall take appropriate measures so that the ecodesign requirements facilitating re-use and treatment of WEEE established in the framework of Directive 2009/125/EC are applied and producers do not prevent, through specific design features or manufacturing processes, WEEE from being re-used, unless such specific design features or manufacturing processes present overriding advantages, for example, with regard to the protection of the environment and/or safety requirements.

It is an open question if this Article 4 brings added value whilst the Ecodesign Directive exists and thus we do not exclude that in an upcoming revision of the WEEE legislation this changes.

The current Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC has a long track record of delivering benefits to businesses, consumers and the environment. In the past years , the impact of the current ecodesign measures, are covering 31 product groups, all consuming energy.

The proposal for a new Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), published on 30 March 2022, is the cornerstone of the European Commission’s approach to more environmentally sustainable and circular products. The proposal builds on the existing Ecodesign Directive, which currently only covers energy-related products and might now be even extended to products generating energy.

The Commission states on their website that the proposal establishes a framework to set ecodesign requirements for specific product groups to significantly improve their circularity, energy performance and other environmental sustainability aspects. It will enable the setting of performance and information requirements for almost all categories of physical goods placed on the EU-27 market (with some notable exceptions, such as food). For groups of products that share sufficient common characteristics, the framework will also allow to set horizontal rules.

The framework will allow for the setting of a wide range of requirements, including on:

• product durability, reusability, upgradability and reparability
• presence of substances that inhibit circularity
• energy and resource efficiency
• recycled content
• remanufacturing and recycling
• carbon and environmental footprints
• information requirements, including a Digital Product Passport

The new “Digital Product Passport” will provide information about products’ environmental sustainability. This information will be easily accessible by scanning a data carrier and it will include attributes such as the durability and reparability, the recycled content or the availability of spare parts of a product. It should help consumers and businesses make informed choices when purchasing products, facilitate repairs and recycling and improve transparency about products’ life cycle impacts on the environment. The product passport should also help public authorities to better perform checks and controls.

ESPR is based on, and will ultimately replace, the current Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC. Until the latter happens, Directive 2009/125/EC will continue to operate. Its provisions require that priorities for implementation are established through regularly updated rolling working plans that take stock of progress made and include indicative priorities for new energy-related product groups to be considered.

The Ecodesign and energy labelling working plan 2022-2024 builds on work done since the adoption of the first Ecodesign Directive, but also covers the work required under the Energy Labelling Framework Regulation (EU/2017/1369) and takes stock of the progress made with the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL).

The working plan 2022-2024 covers new energy-related products and updates and increases the ambition for products that are already regulated, as a transitionary measure until the new regulation enters into force. It addresses consumer electronics, such as smartphones, tablets and solar (photovoltaic) panels and inverters, the fastest-growing waste stream.

Between 2017-2020, the photovoltaic industry has been invited by the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission to develop a preparatory and an impact assessment study on sustainable product policy instruments to assess the feasibility of applying Ecodesign, Energy Label, Ecolabel and Green Public Procurement instruments to solar photovoltaic modules, inverters and systems.

A follow up on Ecodesign potential requirements and Energy Label has started 2020 and will take place along 2021 and 2023.

During the project, continuous and broad consultation is foreseen with experts and stakeholders representing all facets of the product group and its supply chain, including manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, installers, investors, public authorities, testing bodies, consumer organisations, academia, and NGOs, as well as EU-27 Member State representatives.

A public consultation about this took place during the last quarter of 2022. A draft Act is expected in the course of the year 2024.

The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is an initiative envisioned within the framework of the European Union's new action plan for the circular economy, aimed at supporting the transition towards a more sustainable and circular economy. The concept of DPP is among the proposals to enhance the sustainability of products on the EU market by providing detailed and accessible information about the composition, origin, repairability, recyclability, and environmental footprint of products.

The DPP is designed as a digital tool that accompanies each product, enabling consumers, businesses, and authorities to easily access key information throughout the product's life cycle. This could include data on the materials used, instructions for disassembly, repair, and recycling, as well as information on the product's environmental performance. The goal is to promote more sustainable consumption choices, facilitate the economy of use rather than ownership, and support circular business models by improving the traceability and transparency of products.

A DPP is a structured collection of product-related data across a product's lifecycle. Thus, DPPs share information for every product placed on the EU market across the entire value chain. As proposed by the EC, DPPs should serve as a key tool to create transparency on products, thereby promoting the transition to the circular economy and supporting economic growth.

Specifically, DPPs have the potential to make the environmental impact of products visible, traceable, and easily accessible to relevant the actors in the value chain. This will increase transparency and circular VC collaboration that facilitate circular designs (e.g., designs for recyclability) and closed-loop activities (e.g., repair, refurbishment, recycling).

The European Commission is the first large regulator aiming for mandatory DPP implementation across a range of products and industries. The Commission hopes to reach the final approval of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) proposal, that includes the DPP, in 2024.

More details will be provided in delegated acts per product group over the coming years. First product groups are expected to be covered by DPP regulation in 2026/7. Beyond the DPP implementation, the delegated acts per product group are expected to entail eco-design and performance requirements to further foster circularity. The Commisison has already specified eight priority industries (i.e., electronics, vehicles, textiles, plastics, construction and buildings, furniture, and chemicals)

If PV Panels fall under the scope of ‘electronics’ is not yet decided.

Yes, there is specific legislation for batteries within the European Union, known as the Batteries and Waste Batteries Directive (Directive 2006/66/EC), which was adopted in September 2006. This directive aims to minimize the negative impact of batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators on the environment, by promoting collection and recycling and prohibiting the marketing of certain batteries containing hazardous metals.

The directive covers all types of batteries and accumulators, regardless of their shape, volume, weight, composition material or use, including vehicle and industrial batteries. It requires Member States to set up collection systems so that consumers can return their waste batteries and accumulators free of charge. It also sets specific collection and recycling targets, and requires battery producers to register with national authorities and contribute financially to collection and recycling schemes.

The directive is currently being revised to strengthen circular economy requirements, including measures to improve the durability, performance and safety of batteries throughout their life cycle, as well as to respond to the challenges posed by increased demand for batteries linked to the energy transition, particularly for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles.

Yes, there is specific European legislation concerning packaging, known as the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (Directive 94/62/EC), adopted in 1994 and revised several times since to adapt to environmental challenges and circular economy objectives. This directive aims to reduce the environmental impact of packaging by promoting its reduction at source, reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery. It establishes requirements for packaging design to facilitate reuse and recycling, and sets recycling and recovery targets for member states.

Yes, inverters, as electrical and electronic equipment, are regulated by several pieces of European legislation, notably the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive and the RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive.

1. WEEE Directive (2012/19/EU) This directive aims to reduce the environmental impact of end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment, including UPS, by promoting the collection, recycling and recovery of such waste. It imposes responsibilities on manufacturers, distributors and importers of electrical and electronic equipment with regard to the environmentally sound handling and treatment of waste.
   
   
2. RoHS Directive (2011/65/EU): This directive limits the use of certain hazardous substances (such as lead, mercury, cadmium and others) in electrical and electronic equipment, including inverters, to reduce risks to human health and the environment. Manufacturers must ensure that their products comply with the limits set for these substances.
   These guidelines help to ensure that inverters, as key components of renewable energy systems, are designed, used and recycled in a way that minimizes their environmental impact. They also encourage innovation in the design of products that are more sustainable and less harmful to the environment.