> A: Solar panel wastes include heavy metals such as silver, copper, lead, arsenic, cadmium, selenium that at certain levels may be classified as hazardous wastes.
> Q: What does data show? What are the constituents that make the panels hazardous?
> A: In general, data shows that older silicon panels may be hazardous due to lead solder. Some older silicon panels are hazardous for hexavalent chromium coatings. Cadmium tellurium (CdTe) panels are typically hazardous due to the cadmium. Gallium arsenide (GaAs) panels may be hazardous due to the arsenic. Thin film panels, such as copper indium gallium selenide (CIS/CIGS) panels, may be hazardous due to the copper and/or selenium.
> Q: What about electronic components associated with the solar panels? What are they hazardous for?
> A: The electronic components associated with the solar panels (e.g. drivers, inverters, circuit boards) contain all of the common electronic device hazardous constituents such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, selenium, and chromium.
Note that this is grouping together ALL kinds of cells, particularly cadmium telluride. These cells -especially gallium-based cells- are a small or tiny minority of solar panels.
The vast majority of solar panels do not contain any of these except copper and lead. Lead is actively in the process of removal, but the plan is to do so over the next decade or so. Regardless roughly 2000x more lead is used to make car batteries:
https://www.freeingenergy.com/are-solar-panels-really-full-o...