Rooftop solar panels now causing problem in landfills

California went big on rooftop solar. Now that's a problem for landfills

California has been a pioneer in pushing for rooftop solar power, building up the largest solar market in the U.S. More than 20 years and 1.3 million rooftops later, the bill is coming due.

Beginning in 2006, the state, focused on how to incentivize people to take up solar power, showered subsidies on homeowners who installed photovoltaic panels but had no comprehensive plan to dispose of them. Now, panels purchased under those programs are nearing the end of their typical 25-to-30-year life cycle.

Many are already winding up in landfills, where in some cases, they could potentially contaminate groundwater with toxic heavy metals such as lead, selenium and cadmium.

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.

The 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.

"The industry is supposed to be green," Vanderhoof said. "But in reality, it’s all about the money."​

California went big on rooftop solar. Now that's a problem for landfills, Rachel Kisela, Los Angeles Times, July 15, 2022

So these pro-environmentalist people don't think. They just want easy answers and use lazy thinking. They don't come up with good policies.
Why launch an entire solar policy when there was no plan whatsoever in place to recycle all these panels at the end of their lifespan?

 

Yup.
Solar panels generate mountains of waste
2020 › 09 › 19 › solar-panels-generate-mountains-of-waste
mandates for solar recycling. A recent article in Grist reports that most used solar panels are shipped ... The problem of solar panel waste will continue to grow as more panels reach their end of life

 

The US has always had a recycling problem. I see that right here in West Virginia now.

 

Dead solar panels are about to become a lot more valuable
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The solar industry needs all the materials it can get


Jul 8, 2022, 1:21 PM EDT|
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In the coming years, recyclers will hopefully be able to mine billions of dollars worth of materials from discarded solar panels, according to a new analysis published this week. That should ease bottlenecks in the supply chain for solar panels while also making the panels themselves more sustainable.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/8/23200153/solar-panel-value-recycling-renewable-energy

 

California had 20 years to figure it out and still they failed how come Melb?