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California went in for solar in a big way. Starting 2006, they gave homeowners incentives and drove the cost of solar to previously unknown low levels. And with solar panels having an average lifespan of 25-30 years, had plenty of time to do something about end of life waste. Solar panels are mostly glass, but have sufficient amounts of bad stuff like cadmium, lead, etc. to qualify as toxic waste. The $2-4 recoverable from each panel makes the $20-30 labor and processing costs not viable. Now, note that that 25-30 years is not a hard and fast number – older panels are already failing, and warehouses are filling up with toxic waste. While there is limited recycling, some states required special transport, and in California, the requirements are onerous enough that the largest solar panel recycler doesn’t even have a plant there – its plant is in Yuma, Arizona and dead panels have to be shipped to it.<\/p>\n
Sam Vanderhoof, a solar industry expert and chief executive of Recycle PV Solar, says that only 1 in 10 panels are actually recycled, according to estimates drawn from International Renewable Energy Agency data on decommissioned panels and from industry leaders.<\/p>\n
\n\nThe looming challenge over how to handle truckloads of waste, some of it contaminated, illustrates how cutting-edge environmental policy can create unforeseen problems down the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis trash is probably going to arrive sooner than we expected and it is going to be a huge amount of waste,\u201d said Serasu Duran, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business in Canada. \u201cBut while all the focus has been on building this renewable capacity, not much consideration has been put on the end of life of these technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Now, panels are classified as universal waste and can be collected at more than 400 universal waste handlers in California, where they are then assessed and transported to disposal, reuse or recycle facilities. (In cases where panels containing toxic materials are relegated to landfills, they are sent to facilities with extra safeguards against leakage.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n