How to dispose chemicals?

Hello,

 

I'm very interested in developing my B&W film. However I'm

concerned about whether or not it is safe for the environment to

dispose the chemicals down the drain or would I need to find a

company to discard the chemicals for me. If the answer is yes, Is it

really cost effective to develop my own film? Or should I just stick

to a commercial lab.

 

Any Information is appreciated.

Justin, There was a thread about dumping chemicals into a

septic tank that appears to have been deleted. I cannot find it

and my reply. I would:

 

1. Contact the company for disposal instructions

2. Ask for a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS); they have to

supply it.

3. Contact your county waste disposal or recycling for disposal

instructions.

4.Try www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/ for chemical names and

synonyms

5. Try www.hazard.com/msds/vermont/siri/flasite for msds

 

Hope this helps

 

Bill

The materials used in B&W film processing are relatively harmless. Used developer can be poured down the drain, as can stop bath. Used fixer can be de-silvered by soaking a pad of steel wool in it for a couple of days, and then it can be poured down the drain. If you are using "industrial quantities" (many gallons per week) then you need to look at commercial waste disposal.

I can't find that previous thread either. Why it has apparently disappeared is beyond me. I certainly didn't delete it. <P>

Justin,<BR>

Go to the top of this page and click on "Search" and then enter "septic tank" to find a lot of archived information.

This thread?

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00DdIh

Justin didn't mention that he had a septic tank. Bill gives the best advice, check the

local regs, all are not the same.

Jordan,

<BR>Thank you. The thread was in the B&W film category. I moved it to the more appropriate "Processing - Home" category.

 

<P>The environmental and disposal concerns would be about the same whether pouring chemicals down the drain or into a septic tank.

Other than a septic tank, B&W chemicals go straight down the drain including fixer. You're talking a few ounces getting dumped into a sewer system handling millions of gallons. If you're running a commercial processing lab you may run into local environmental regulations on disposal but that's a different story than at-home quantities.

This is not meant to offend other posters but the solution to

pollution is not dilution or hoping that the water treatment plant

cleans it up. If they do not test for that chemical they may not even

know it is there and it will get passed on to the downstream

users. I feel that In this day and age each of us needs to do our

part by properly disposing of hazardous materials. Conversely, if

everyone dumps small amounts of hazardous materials down

the drain, photo processing chemicals or otherwise, then the

accumulative affect would be similar to a commercial operation.

It really isn't too hard to find out the best way to get rid of the

chemicals.

The most hazardous of the darkroom chemicals I've had I let evaporate into a solid. I now have a couple pounds I don't know what to do with. At my old residence (Monroe County NY where Kodak is) the county provided a residential hazardous waste service where you could go and sign a log and give them a small quantity of just about anything. Actually, I got rid of darkroom chemicals when I went to RIT (I wasn't a photo student) by just going to the darkrooms for the photo students and dumping my chems down their chemical drains. No such service here in Wayne County NY just as it is in most of the country. When I moved in I had a substatial amount of asbestos material to dispose of and the disposal companies apparently wouldn't take it without a ridiculous fee, seems they can't take residential (read non-tracable) waste without extra paperwork filled out, the same or worse for the little darkroom I had at the time also. This same state that has so many records and regulations with steep non-compliance penalties and taxes for disposal of commercial/industrial waste, has nothing for residential person just trying to do his/her part. The asbestos wound up going to the local dump.

 

If you care - help pressure your government to provide residents a way to cheaply dispose of hazards. While used oil can be returned to vendors, Lead Acid batteries can be returned too, Button cells like silver or mercury batteries from cameras as well as Nickle-Cadmium batteries (for example, are taken free by a drop box at the Sears store.) But nothing for the amateur darkroom waste.

 

By the way it seems RIT wasn't treating their waste very well either, they no longer have student photo darkrooms and the school is committed to digital. I'm all for digital -and it helps the environment , but I still think we should be able to responsibly do home darkroom work including souping our own chemistry.