Civic Register
| 7.18.22
California's Growing Solar Panel Waste Poses Environmental Risk Due to Lack of Safe Disposal Options
Are you concerned about recycling end-of-life solar panels to prevent environmental hazards?
What’s the story?
- California’s push for rooftop solar panels has created a growing environmental hazard as panels reach the end of their useful life and end up in landfills across the Golden State, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.
- The state of California created a program in 2006 that was intended to promote green energy by incentivizing homeowners to put solar panels (aka photovoltaic cells) on their roofs. The program, known as the California Solar Initiative, was administered by the California Public Utilities Commission and issued about $3.3 billion in grants for rooftop solar panels installed by 1.3 million recipients.
- While the program has helped increase the state’s share of solar power to about 15% of California’s portfolio, it lacked a comprehensive plan for disposing of the panels that would allow useful materials to be recycled and toxic substances to be kept out of landfills, where they can seep into groundwater and cause contamination.
- About 80% of typical solar panels are made of recyclable materials but the process of breaking them down to allow the recovery of glass, silver, and silicon is extremely difficult so only 1-in-10 solar panels are recycled, according to industry estimates.
- With a growing number of solar panels reaching the end of their useful lifecycle, which is typically about 25 years, many are ending up in California landfills where toxic heavy metals from the solar panels like selenium and cadmium can contaminate groundwater. Natalie Click, a doctoral student who studies the issue at the University of Arizona, told the LA Times:
“People just don’t realize that there are toxic materials in those electronics, that it’s fine if it’s just sitting in a box in your house. But once it gets crushed and put into the landfill, a lot of those toxic chemicals and materials are going to leak into your groundwater.”
- As the number of solar panels headed to the dump rises, regulators and panel manufacturers have recognized that they lack the capacity to deal with the upcoming surge of solar panels hitting the waste stream.
- A company based in Phoenix, Arizona, called We Recycle Solar breaks down panels to recycle useful materials and dispose of toxic metals and gets most of its panels trucked in from California. However, it doesn’t have a facility in California because the state’s permitting system for dealing with toxic materials is too onerous, according to We Recycle Solar Vice President AJ Orben.
- Orben told the LA Times that the economics of the solar panel recycling process, which involves highly specialized equipment in addition to complex regulatory requirements due to the hazardous materials involved, only yields about $2 to $4 of useful materials.
- Given the significant labor costs involved, that leaves little economic case for recycling solar panels even on a large scale. Research by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory last year found that it costs between $1 and $2 to send a solar panel to a landfill but about $20 to $30 to recycle it, while repairs to extend its useful life were even more expensive at $65 per solar panel.
- Some have called for the adoption of programs modeled after European regulations that require solar panel manufacturers to finance end-of-life recycling for their panels. To date, Washington is the only state with such a law, although it won’t be implemented until 2025.
- It’s unclear what sort of impact building in the costs of end-of-life recycling into the solar panel production chain will have on the industry, which has been heavily reliant on taxpayer subsidies in its growth.
- Some action is also being taken at the local level. The City of Santa Monica entered into a public-private partnership with the California Product Stewardship Council that surveyed local residential solar owners and found many were unaware of what to do with end-of-life panels and called installers for help. Drew Johnstone, a sustainability analyst for Santa Monica, told the LA Times:
“We did find that the solar installers were the best contact for us to learn about how many decommissioned panels were in our region. Some contractors did end up just having to pile them in their warehouses, because there’s no good solution for where to bring them…
It’s going to be a really large issue in a number of years, so it would behoove local governments, county, state, and it can go federal too, to have a plan in place for all these panels that will reach their end of life in 10 to 15 years.”
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: iStock.com / nattrass)
The Latest
-
SCOTUS Hears Trump Immunity Case, Appearing SkepticalUpdated Apr. 26, 2024, 11:00 a.m. EST The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today over whether Trump is immune from prosecution read more... States -
IT: 🖋️ Biden signs a bill approving military aid and creating hurdles TikTok, and... Should the U.S. call for a ceasefire?Welcome to Thursday, April 25th, readers near and far... Biden signed a bill that approved aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, read more... -
Biden Signs Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan Aid, and TikTok BillWhat’s the story? President Joe Biden signed a bill that approved aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, which could lead to a ban read more... Taiwan -
Protests Grow Nationwide as Students Demand Divestment From IsraelUpdated Apr. 23, 2024, 11:00 a.m. EST Protests are growing on college campuses across the country, inspired by the read more... Advocacy
Climate & Consumption
Health & Hunger
Politics & Policy
Safety & Security
Just store the old panels until better recycling methods are developed. Their are critical materials which can br repurposed once they are extracted. Many such endeavors are much more profitable when dine at a larger scale but won't seriously be developed until there is a larger scale of old panels to pricess.
Apple, for exsmple, has recycling robots that know how to disassemble old iPhones into their piece parts stored in selected bins for extraction of gold from connectors, lithium from batteries and strateguc msterisls that are used to construct iPhones. This is a profitable enterprise because it is done in a large scale as well as a respondible way to keep hazardous byproducts out of landfills.
The old panels have a stored latent value in the materials used to construct them, a value which can effectively be extracted when there are enough panels available and profit potential for large scale extraction methods to be developed.
Strategic materials are by nature scare, and the value of scarce materials are much more likely to increase in the future then to decrease.
Most solar panels installed in the last decade have a 30 year life and lose about 10% efficiency after 10 years.
Solar recycling programs are currently available in some places but most can be handled at general-purpose glass recycling facilities, where their glass & metal frames can be recycled, and the remaining components are thrown away or burned but some do end up in landfills
Materials that can be recycled:
(1) Glass makes up 75% of which 95% is reusable
(2) Aluminum is 6% to 8% and is 100% reusable
(3) Plastic makes up 10%
(4) Silicon makes up roughly 5%
Specialized recycling companies
(1) Cleanites (MI, MN, OH, SC)
(2) METech Recycling, TT&E Iron & Metal & United Scrap (NC)
(3) Recycle PV Solar (NV)
(4) Manufacturers of Solar panels run programs (SunPower, First Solar)
(5) We Recycle Solar - works directly with manufacturers and installers to dispose properly of their solar panel waste. With processing plants in AZ & NY
(6) Veolia partners with the non-profit PV Cycle in Europe to collect and recycle solar panels as Europe requires all solar panels be recycled since 2018
(7) Recycle PV is partnering with PV Cycle to help move US panels to recycling facilities in Europe.
(8) EtaVolt, a spin-off from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), works with firms to sustainably recycle their used solar panels and helps them determine when to upgrade to more efficient ones.
https://www.santeecooper.com/news/2021/072021-How-to-Properly-Dispose-of-or-Recycle-Solar-Panels-and-Equipment.aspx
https://news.energysage.com/recycling-solar-panels/
https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40017871
https://www.epa.gov/hw/solar-panel-recycling
Solar panels should be able to be recycled. You have aluminum frames, silicone, copper, lead, zinc, polymers and the ingredients for doping?
We know how to make panels that will work in the dark and will never have to be replaced and tossed into a landfill but if they had to be replaced we can make them harmless to the environment. Estimated life is about 200+ years.
Yes, this is a problem, but it's a good problem to have. Solar panels are essential for harvesting sustainable energy that can lead us away from fossil fuels.
As the demand continues, companies will have to find better materials to make them from and better ways to recycle or dispose of panels at the end of their use.
This does not mean we should stop using solar panels. The west is literally burning up.
Adopt the programs used in Europe. Store the expired panels until these can be implemented. Risk to benefit, it would seem that solar panels are still better than the monies spent on the continued use of petoleum products, the obtaining and shipping of these products and the damage that these products do to our air, water and earth on a daily basis.
I think it would be a great project for industrial design or other university study classes to find a way to utilize these obsolete and used up parts of solar panels. We visited the place in New Mexico where to recycle used glass and even toilet water. There's got to be a use out there.
The solar technology has to also be more user friendly and lighter weight. We need to invest in this for the sake of our planet.
This landfill alarmism just illustrates the complete narcissism of the Green Energy crowd. It doesn't help that we are enriching China's coffers in the process and completely ceding our national security in the process. None of this matters because the Left will always create new problems in their attempts to solve imaginary ones i.e. Climate Change. Word to all you dupes bowing at the alter of the Climate religion, Joe Biden represented a State that uses no windmills, or (to my knowledge) ANY solar farms! Most of their energy comes from natural gas! This corrupt crypt-keeper drives a gas-guzzling Corvette! Barack Hussein and Mooch-elle Obama own a very nice estate that sits AT SEA LEVEL and they just put in a NATURAL GAS energy backup system! What do they know that the rest of so-called "science" doesn't know. I'll tell you what they know. They know the whole idea is a colossal scam. They saw Al Gore fleece his way to becoming a near-Billionaire while convincing a generation to deny their economic future and they want in on it. And by the way, you can't recycle windmills either. Every one of those beauty-destroying monstrosities will be put into a landfill somewhere. Never mind all the migratory birds they kill every year. That includes endangered species birds too. If any of the crap worked Europe wouldn't freeze to death in the winter and then wouldn't be rushing back to fossil fuels now. California, the greenest state in the country wouldn't have brownouts all year and call for energy rationing. Texas wouldn't be the embarrassing energy mess it has become. For your own sanity, WTFU!
Pollution induced hazards
Combat vet 'fuming' over lawmakers' failure to pass two bipartisan measures that could have helped millions impact of burn pits
dont waste your emotions energy and resources on getting upset!
vote them out or suffer the consequences of a gop who simply does not give a crap about your service and sacrifices
they all turned on you at the last minute! and you still want dumbkopf and Goons Of President (gop) back in positions of power?
Takes them 2 seconds to give a pass to the likes of saudi turkey pakistan etc so called allies so who are you?
Getting clean energy is essential to reducing air pollution, and halting climate change, but causing other forms of pollution, is unacceptable a solution must be found, and actualized quickly.
Solar panels are making a huge difference for the environment, in terms of renewable energy and climate change. That being said, as with all products, we need to find an environmentally safe way of disposing of their waste. I believe this solar panel waste problem can be addressed in such a way that keeps solar panels a win for our planet. Recycling is difficult for many different products. If we find a way of efficiently recovering and recycling the glass, silver, and silicon in solar panels, that may go on to help us with other types of recycling.
Solar and wind generated power are wonderful but the recycle issues need to be addressed. Money not only needs to be given to create alternative energy sources but to deal with the large physical structures after their use. Companies that create solar and wind energy generation structures should be responsible for insuring the recycling of those structures much as the bottling industry does.
"Green" is NOT that green!!!
Sustainability goes further than producing clean energy. The entire carbon footprint of these processes needs to be examined and approached with the intention to minimize the impact on the environment.
It is an attractive concept and potential solution to have the manufacturer's take ownership (and sell services/financing) for the recycling and full circularity of their solar panels. We/they could do that with all kinds of electronics, and other products.
Yes AND the batteries from all the electric vehicles.
"Green Energy" causes more problems than it solves
I am highly in favor of solar energy, private personal systems or as add-on or replacement to conventional grids.
The issue is that Soem companies want to ride in on the BIG BOOM or SOLAR but don;t want the responsibility (expense) of after care. These provisions for disposal or expired or hail (etc) damaged panels MUST be incorporated into state and local laws for these ultility wannabees.
I ALSO KNOW that the alternative to SOLAR taking over the market is MORE COAL and other fossil fuel production (fracking/drillin/mining --ALL DESTRUCTIVE) is more POLLUTION, GREENHOUSE GASES messing with the Climate, and all contribute the the TOXIC INDUSTRIAL OVER -FLOW, as well.
I AM ultimately PRO-SOLAR, but not without fore-thought and planning, as to not make the mistakes of previous energy source catastropies.
SAVE the planet!
Jim has the answer already! Love you Jim. I have been trying to get solar heating for my house for years but no luck way up North here where it really is needed. I am going to try to forward the article and your response to our governor, Gretchen Whitmer, she is a brilliant woman and is rebuilding our state daily. I hope I can get the two of you working together!
Maybe Hunter can line up a recycle option with China where most all solar panels are made. Be a win win for the Biden cartel
The problems in our abuse of the environment are very complex, and inadequately understood. Unintended consequences will continue to challenge us as long as we hide our heads in the sand. Unfortunately this may fuel arguments against responsible action to fight climate change.
I'm a strong proponent of rapidly converting away from fossil fuel energy sources and toward renewables and environmentally safe systems. As part of that transition we need to ensure we have the infrastructure in place to recover and recycle components that reach end-of-life to minimize excessive mining of more raw matierials and prevent building up landfills. This whole thing needs to be done systemicly. Note that in many places spent motor oil and other biohazards are already being dumped in landfils, so this is not a NEW problem. It is a problem that needs to be addressed as part of a responsible transition to being caretakers of the planet and eventually bringing climate back into liveable conditions over the next sevearl decades. If we don't start addressing it now, we'll have an even harder time addressing in a few years from now.
This is another government sponsored fraud. Pushing the global warming scam to spend money on unproven technologies. What happened to non-government innovation? The automobile was a private development. Gas stations came into being to support the automobile without government jumping in. Initially air travel was developed and used without government money. When government gets involved we get failed companies like solyndra. Let the private sector develop and innovate which is more efficient than government driven plans.
Ideally everything should be fully recycled. That's what nature does. Man should learn to do the same.
We need to invest in recycling. We need to reduce waste in every capacity.