Post B6X7aQ7KXNNQWkN9ua by jb@nicecrew.digital
 (DIR) More posts by jb@nicecrew.digital
 (DIR) Post #B6X7aPAq2qaZbL0Rk0 by Thanh_Le@www.minds.com
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       This isn't just a pile of debris - it’s the future of green energy waste hidden in plain sight. Millions of solar panels are hitting their end-of-life cycle, and the world is completely unprepared for the coming toxic avalanche. By 2050, the International Renewable Energy Agency projects up to 78 million metric tons of solar e-waste. Where is it all going to go?  The industry boasts that solar panels are '95% recyclable'. Technically, yes - because they are made of glass, aluminum and copper. But economics always trumps physics. In Australia and the US, it costs roughly $20 to $28 to properly disassemble and recycle a single panel, but only about $4 to dump it in landfill. Because there is no financial incentive, up to 90% of decommissioned panels go straight into the ground.  Each solar panel is an industrial 'sandwich' bound tightly by heavy polymers. To extract the microscopic amounts of valuable silver and high-purity silicon requires energy-intensive chemical and thermal baking.When they are crushed or left to fracture in landfills, heavy metals like lead and cadmium can leach into the surrounding soil and groundwater, turning 'clean energy' into a multi-generational hazardous waste problem.The crisis is accelerating faster than models predicted. Because solar cells degrade and lose efficiency, and because newer, cheaper panels hit the market, consumers and solar farms are ripping out functional systems at least a decade early to upgrade. This compressed lifecycle destroys the narrative of a long-term, stable asset and creates an endless loop of unrecyclable industrial trash.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6X7aPiA2xFBGgb3gG by jb@nicecrew.digital
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       Same old scam… Just like when they replaced glass with plastic containers because iT’s rEcYcLabLe, only to admit decades later that that they knew from the start it was a lie
       
 (DIR) Post #B6X7aPt9O62BoljpoG by judgedread@poa.st
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       When he worked as a PepsiCo exec John Sculley spearheaded the replacement of glass soda bottles with plastic because glass breaks and it's too heavy, so supermarkets limited how much they stocked. It was also too heavy for housewives to lug more than a small bottle home.He sold two liter soda to Walmart with a demonstration, dropping a full two liter bottle in front of Sam Walton himself. It didn't burst on impact so Sam greenlit stocking them.Now you know the rest of the story.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6X7aQ7KXNNQWkN9ua by jb@nicecrew.digital
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       I already hated him for trying to ruin Apple, now I hate him even more 🤣
       
 (DIR) Post #B6X7aQEm5hKctpr6W0 by judgedread@poa.st
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       Glass soda bottles would sometimes explode in the summer.That was no fun.