PFAS

Back in the 1970’s companies were burying harmful substances. These plant managers were mostly chemical engineers and were fully aware that in 30 or 40 years these steel containers would rust away and these dangerous substances would get into the ground water. As expected, the government created the Super Fund to clean up these thousands of places at a cost of billions. More recently 3M paid 10 billion in fines to clean up the Polyfluorolkyl Substances commonly called PFAS which they had buried and it contaminated the ground water. Chemical waste has been found in high concentrations around multiple 3M facilities in the US, including its 1,750-acre factory in Minnesota, where the state claims there is a 100-square-mile underground plume of leaked PFAS. These chemicals are used in the manufacture of solar panels and each year 5 million used panels are buried in the US and this number is expected to rise. Solar panels may very well save the planet. But the way they’re being produced and disposed of right now is seriously hurting the environment. Thousands of tons of PFAS waste are put in landfills each year — and the sector has no idea how to deal with it. While the mining and processing of materials needed for solar panels is currently done mostly in China the disposal of these panels is done in the USA. Once again, the problem is just buried for future generations to handle.