From the Article
There’s a paradox in the growing global appetite for greener energy. As sales of solar panels and wind turbines increase, so too does the scale of an often-overlooked problem now being stored for future generations. What happens to all the “green” infrastructure when it reaches the end of its life?
When early-generation green technology is replaced, much of it now finds its way into landfill or incinerators. This is not only a blow to waste-reduction efforts, adding hundreds of thousands of tons of rubbish to the global tally every year, but also is also a colossal missed opportunity. Solar panels comprise metals and glass, which, if they were separated and captured, could be reused in the manufacture of other products.
Effective, efficient recycling systems are needed if alternative technologies are to be truly green, and they need to be established quickly. Greenpeace and the European Photovoltaic Industry Association expect solar power generation to leap by a factor of 10 in the next decade. In fact, in my home country of France alone, 500 megawatts of solar panels are installed every year, representing 50,000 tons of potential future waste. In Europe as a whole, four million tons of panels are installed.