[jhgb]

> The 90% recyclable figure refers to the materials that can be used in low grade applications.

[1] says that "[the waste components] are crushed into granulates that can used to make new panels". Are new panels a "low grade application"?

> The remaining 10% are the rare earth minerals that actually make the panel work and need to be mined.

Excuse me, but what "rare earth minerals" are you talking about? There are none in solar panels, much less 10% of them. (That would be 2 kg per average panel, mind you!)

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-solar-recycling/europes-f...

[bicubic]

> Excuse me, but what "rare earth minerals" are you talking about? There are none in solar panels

LMGTFY

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3mavb/we-dont-mine-enoug...

[jhgb]

Did you just seriously use a VICE article as a source for technical information? Aside from that gaffe, even they don't mention any use for rare earth metals in solar panels. I challenge you to find some use that would make sense in your bog-standard crystalline silicon PV panel. I've never been able to find any.

[bicubic]

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-05843-2_...

Refer to Fig. 11.1

If you need more help to identify REM or understand basic PV chemistry, get in touch with a local middle school chem tutor, they will help you out.

[jhgb]

Zero mention of rare earth metals in conjunction with PV, as expected. Thanks for agreeing with me.

[EDIT: Even in wind turbines, they're not technically necessary, as, e.g., Enercon turbines such as https://www.enercon.de/en/products/ep-8/e-126/ with induction generators are demonstrating. But I'm glad we dispelled once and for all this with this nonsense that lanthanoids have anything to do with PV technology.]