How to recycle a solar panel

A few years ago now I had the opportunity to take part in a solar PV workshop where we made our own solar panels. It was a painstaking process of soldering together individual solar cells, which are wafer thin and extremely fragile. Then they were smothered in glue and pressed under a sheet of rainproof plastic so we could take home our own solar chargers.

Although ours were scrappy and DIY, the process is similar for making a commercial panel. The silicon cells are in a sandwich of material...