@arstechnica
The people who were complaining about solar panels needing to be recycled after only 20 years...
...probably own an automobile weighing more than 100 solar panels. Which will need recycling sooner than the solar panels. The complaint was never genuine to begin with.
They don't mention cadmium, gallium, indium, tellurium, or selenium, which are in some panels.
And why do they have to send the aluminium frames and glass off for melting? Isn't "re-use" better than recycle? Couldn't they just slip in new panels?
@arstechnica It is also important that the cost of recycling is either: (1) less expensive than mining the minerals, or (2) there is some requirement that they are recycled.
As a previous poster mentioned, we also need to see if this can be scaled up properly before patting ourselves on the back.
@arstechnica
A disingenious article, on two counts:
"waste isn't a problem yet": yes it is. Mining tailings for example are a real problem. So is air pollution from making them (all PV factories are powered by coal plants). Of course, since this happens in China, it doesn't exist, right?
It's a research level setup, not a commercial recycling plant. Wake me when we get to that stage please.