From article.
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.”
Meh...it all came out of the ground. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The tedlar will probably take the longest to break down... the rest: glass, silicon 'wafers', silver buss bars and grid, and aluminum frame will all be gone in 100 years. Fiberglass blades will most likely also be gone by then too. The blades are usually woodcore, fiberglass (silica/glass fibers) and vinyl or polyester plastics...will rot to hell like your neighbor's boat on his front lawn he turned into a planter. It'll all turn to dust and return the the earth where it originally came from.
Ultra Violet light is a wonderful thing. UV light and Oxidation breaks down almost everything.