Solar Panels Promise Clean Power, But Over 80 Million Tons of Waste Could Follow by 2050
A perspective paper by Assistant Professor Juanita Hidalgo and postdoctoral researcher Sara Hamilton argues that without stronger recycling infrastructure, discarded solar panels could generate more than 80 million tons of waste by 2050, and calls for liquid-based hydrometallurgy techniques that selectively extract valuable metals like silver, indium, and lead, rather than energy-intensive high-heat processes.