Sustainable approaches to solar photovoltaic waste management under environmental uncertainty

The rapid expansion of solar photovoltaic (SPV) deployment has created an urgent challenge of managing end-of-life (EoL) panels. Global capacity surpassed the terawatt scale in 2022 and is projected to exceed 14 TW by 2050, generating more than 70 million tonnes of cumulative waste. If not properly managed, this waste stream poses environmental, health, economic, and social risks due to hazardous substances, uncertain recovery costs, and fragmented policies. This paper presents a structured narrative review of recent literature on sustainable SPV waste management. Unlike earlier reviews that separately examine recycling technologies or policy frameworks, this work introduces a novel uncertainty-based framework that categorizes drivers into technological, market, and regulatory domains. These uncertainties are then linked to risks and mapped to integrated strategies, including advanced recycling, eco-design, second-life applications, policy instruments, and digital/AI-enabled solutions. The analysis moves beyond descriptive compilation by highlighting trade-offs among recovery efficiency, environmental impact, and feasibility, supported by comparative tables and new figures. The paper concludes with a future research agenda emphasizing probabilistic waste flow modelling, standardized eco-design principles, informal sector integration, and digital innovation. By reframing uncertainty as a driver for innovation rather than a barrier, this review offers both theoretical insight and practical guidance for sustainable SPV waste management.