The ban could help divert almost one million tonnes of solar waste expected by 2035, with industry experts warning the surge could arrive sooner as households and businesses replace panels earlier than expected.
The calls came at a parliamentary inquiry into end-of-life solar panels in Melbourne on Wednesday, which also hosted debate over who should pay to recycle the products.
The inquiry follows record-breaking adoption of renewable energy technology in Australia, with more than 4.5 million solar systems and 500,000 batteries installed in homes and businesses, according to the Clean Energy Regulator.
But Australian laws were not ready to manage solar panels at the end of their lives, Clean Energy Council senior policy officer David Markham told committee members, and current rules made it cheaper for installers to dump them.
"The key issue is not whether panels can be recycled or reused – they can," he said.
"The issue is that our current regulatory and economic settings still make landfill, stockpiling or poorly regulated disposal pathways more attractive than reuse and recycling."
Intact solar panels should be banned from landfill sites in 2027, according to a council proposal, with all solar panels banned from dumps in 2028.
Only Victoria has banned solar panels from landfill to date and without national action, Mr Markham said, irresponsible companies could travel across borders to dispose of them.
More than 91,000 tonnes of solar panels are expected to reach the end of their life by 2030, rising to almost one million tonnes by 2035, according to government figures.
But results from a Queensland solar panel recycling trial had shown 62 per cent of panels were removed within seven to 10 years, Envirostream chief executive Simon Linge said, well short of their estimated 25-year life.
"The main drivers are damage…, weather, and then just the economics," he said.
"The panels, particularly from early generations, certainly don't have the efficiency of current solar panels."
Witnesses from Envirostream, the Clean Energy Council, recycling firm Elecsome and RE-Alliance called for the government to introduce a mandatory national product stewardship scheme to handle retired solar panels.
The representatives were divided over who and when to charge for the scheme, however, with some arguing for costs at the point-of-sale while Activ Group Solutions chief technology officer Tom Jamieson said they should be charged at disposal.
"By introducing a levy that's not really very carefully crafted, you could end up having new families who want solar panels paying for the consumption of people two decades ago and I think that's inequitable," he said.
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