Ecological effects of development chemicals

I am completely new to this developng game following the gift of an enlarger from some friends. I have set up a darkroom but am concerned about the effect of throwing out the used chemicals. I understand that I can keep the fixer and use it again but the developed goes off and should be disposed of. I never know what to do with it and have been pouring it down the sink with plenty of water. What environmental pollution am I causing by doing this?

Here is Kodak's response.

http://www.kodak.com/cluster/global/en/service/faqs/faq5026.shtml

Kodak, of course, is a manufacturer, and as such, they are not neutral

about this. I found there are considerable differences in

the statements published by the manufacturers, and also in legislation

of different countries. Here are some facts:

 

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Developer is a reducing agent, which means it consumes oxygen

dissolved in the waste water. That oxygen, however, is necessary for

bacteria to be able to degrade the chemicals.

 

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Many of the compunds in photographic chemistry are also toxic and/or

carcinogenic. So in my eyes, it is not at all clear that they are

easily degraded in waste-water plants, as manufacturers routinely

claim.

 

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Fixer contains silver. Silver has a so-called is a heavy metal and has

an oligodynamic effect, which means that in its presence, bacteria

will not survive. I have read a Kodak publication on silver in the

environment, and they simply state that in the form in which silver is

present in used fixing baths, it is not a big problem as most of it is

precipitated. As the concentration at which silver kills bacteria is

very low, I have my doubts about this statement, too. Also, silver

resources are not infinite, and once silver has gone down the drain,

it's lost, and we are one step closer to more expensive photo

material.

 

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Selenium is a natural TRACE element, and you need a certain amount of

it, but it's also highly toxic, and the line between the good effects

and the bad ones is extremely thin. I think even Kodak concede that

selenium toner shall not be disposed of via the sewer.

 

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So we are actually left to guess. In my country (and I think this

applies to most of Europe), it is forbidden anyway to dispose of

darkroom chemicals via the sewer. You have to collect them and bring

them to a toxic-waste collection point for incineration. (They are

available almost everywhere.)

 

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For prints, there is an almost non-toxic developer. That is Agfa's

Neutol Plus, where the developing agent is vitamin C. There are

probably other less-toxic developers, but photo chemistry remains a

pollutant, and if your conscience nags you to act responsibly, I think

you won't get around collecting your waste for an ordered disposal.

 

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As for silver: I would try to find someone who's willing to desilver

your fixing agents, or use metallic replacement cartidges. (They were

an issue from time to time in one of the forums.)

In the U.S. or at least my area, incineration is not used for

disposal purposes, air pollution. Generally you are disposing your

developer with your stop bath which has the effect of stopping the

chemical action and balancing the ph. According to the people at my

local waste water treatment plant, they have more trouble with

ordinary laundry detergent. If you really don't want to pour it down

the drain, you could buy a 5 gallon plastic tank like those made for

water or gasoline and pour your developer into it at the end of your

darkroom session. Leave the cap off so that the water will evaporate

out. When the container is full of dry chemical, seal and find some

place to dispose.

I have been simply continuing to use the same selenium toner, but

topping it up with freshly mixed toner at the same dilution when it

drops too far below the top of the bottle. I am not sure if it builds

up other chemicals that might cause a problem for my prints, but I do

a thorough soak in hypo clearing agent and a long wash after toning.

 

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For my fix I purchased a small silver recovery unit for about $35.

Once I have removed the silver, I simply pour the remaining liquid

down the drain.

 

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Most developers oxidize rapidly and are not much of a threat to the

environment--I neutralize them with the acid stop and pour them down

the drain as well.

 

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I have a septic system, and have been doing this for 15 years with no

apparent deleterious effects.

 

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Other solutions, such as gold toner, copper toner, and anything else

with heavy metals should probably be disposed of as hazardous

chemicals.

As others have said, except for metal based toners, photo chemicals

are biodegradeable. As Thomas points out, they do place a chemical

oxygen demand on the waste treatment system. In the US, most waste

treatment plants do continuous aeration of the waste to deal with

this for ALL the stuff in the waste stream. But to help, pre-

oxidizing is a good idea. For developer, just leave it in a pan for

a day at the most.

 

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The silver is fixer is not in a biologically active state, but silver

recovery is a good idea. Porter's (www.porters.com) sells the silver

recovery setup Ed talks about. The neat thing is when you fill it

up, you ship it back to the manufacturer and they pay you for the

silver.

 

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There is a good site called TerraGreen (www.terragreencom) that talks

about this, and since it is not a manufacturer of photo chemistry,

the concerns Thomas has about the sourse are moot. BTW he is no

longer in business, so don't try to order any of his products.

If you're worried about environmental effects of developers, I think

Kodak developed XTOL to be somewhat more "friendly" than some other

developing agents. It's based on ascorbic acid (vitamin C) though it

does also contain smaller amounts of less desirable organics.

 

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There are other similar formulations (e.g. Mytol - see

http://www.jetcity.com/~mrjones/mytol.htm) which don't have the other

organics, but Im not sure if they're commercially available or if you

have to make them up yourself.

If you are really concerned about your extremely small amount of

pollution then please visit your local wastewater treatment plant and

talk to the people in the operations section. They will let you know

all about the effects on the system. It is something you should be

knowlegeable about anyway. I work as a supervisor in a large sewage

facility and I can tell you that you addition is not even detectable

at parts per billion. James

<p>James is right. It's not like millions of people are dumping these

chemicals into the water supply all the time. If home photography was

much much more popular then there would be a problem. Worrying about

this under these circumstances is over reacting. If we really were

causing harm then I'm sure environmentalists would bring it out in

the open with scientific facts proving it...</p>

 

<p>I would be more worried about how your health may be getting

affected if you are not being careful with these chemicals.</p>

This is an old thread but decided to add this because it's still active on search engines and people's interest level on this topic has been increasing...

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I have made a page on toxicity and environmental impact of photographic chemicals, describing how much of the harmful chemicals can be removed. I'm also intending to expand this page to include more information.

<a href="http://www.silvergrain.org/wiki/index.php/Nontoxic_darkroom_chemicals">

Information on non-toxic photographic chemicals and environmentally friendly formulation.</a>

 

FYI