Banana Shire Council joins Circular PV Alliance as QLD’s first member
Published on 16 December 2025
Banana Shire Council joins Circular PV Alliance
Banana Shire Council joins Circular PV Alliance as local government leads the national push for solar energy circular economy.
Local governments across Australia are joining forces to champion a more sustainable solar energy sector, as Banana Shire Council signs up as the first Queensland local government to pledge support to Circular PV Alliance.
Circular PV Alliance (CPVA) is the national peak body focused on enabling the solar energy sector’s transition into a circular economy. The addition of Banana Shire Council as the newest member of CPVA highlights Australia’s expanding network of local governments committed to building a sustainable solar energy industry that also supports the emerging ‘urban mining’ sector.
As the rollout of large-scale solar developments accelerates across Queensland, Banana Shire Council (Council) wants to ensure its community is not just impacted by the energy rollout, but benefits from it as well.
Council CEO Tom Upton said that by joining CPVA, Council is signalling to developers and the community that Council is committed to turning end-of-life solar materials into local jobs, new industries and long-term economic value.
“We want to activate as many opportunities for our local community as possible, and recycling used solar panels to recover valuable materials is the type of innovative business model we want to support,” Mr Upton said.
“Our community already has a number of renewable developments, with more on the way. Circular PV Alliance helps solar developers design and manage solar projects in a more sustainable way that stops solar panels from ending up in local landfill. This is important work and it also creates local business and economic opportunities which Council is very supportive of.”
CPVA Co-founder and CEO Megan Jones said that the rapid growth of the solar energy industry must factor in circularity practices now to ensure the industry remains environmentally sustainable, and socially acceptable, into the future.
“Local governments are trying to understand the impacts and opportunities of large-scale solar energy projects on their local communities, which can be difficult given the speed and scale at which the rollout is happening,” Ms Jones said.
“We help project developers embed circularity practices into solar projects through our CPVA Certified® assurance framework. Part of this process includes making sure used or damaged panels are diverted from landfill and instead sent for recycling, or repair if possible. This stops local waste management facilities from being overwhelmed or accumulating certain types of tricky e-waste like solar panels.”
“The solar circular economy is an emerging market. Communities like Banana shire, that will have a lot of solar projects located in their region, are well placed to become a hub for businesses in this new urban mining sector.”
Banana Shire Council joins fellow regional local government Dubbo Regional Council as a member of CPVA. Dubbo is located in the Central West-Orana Renewable Energy Zone in western New South Wales and is also committed to unlocking circular economy opportunities resulting from the rollout of renewable energy.
Banana Shire’s membership with CPVA reinforces a powerful message, that local governments are stepping up, collaborating and fostering new strategic industries for their regions as Australia’s renewable energy build accelerates.
CPVA invites other local governments across Australia to join this movement.