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  • The relevant point from hamster's link as I read is this, the answer depends on which solar system you use, solar silicon (the majority of the market) vs thin-fim solar technology

    • Crystalline Silicon (c-Si): The first commercial solar modules were made of crystalline silicon (c-Si). These modules are still the most widely produced, comprising more than 70 percent of production in 2006.xiii

    Recycling options: Used silicon (Si) wafers can be melted into Si ingots and cut into new wafers. A company located in Freiburg, Germany, is one of the few facilities to provide reuse and recycling services for defective c-Si solar panels.xiv

    So I think they can be recycled. I haven't read much about embedded energy used to make the panels vs energy generated as hamster asserted above however and that is a different question to environmental waste.

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