a fifth of the world's electricity, we need clean energy but this green industry has a growing headache when it comes to waste. turbines are built to withstand the forces of nature, the forces of nature — they're flexible, light and super strong. but that's also where the problem lies. when they reach the end of life, they're really hard to recycle. while the steel in the towers can be reused, the massive blades are almost indestructible. and as older models are replaced, many get dumped in landfill. by 2050, there could be 43 million tons of redundant blades globally that need to be dealt with. it is problematic because we want the renewable energy to be