Waste disposal
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Waste disposal
What does everyone do with their liquid waste from processing and printing?
Putting it down the drain doesn't strike me as particularly wholesome, although I accept that the concentration of baddies is probably quite low by the time they get to the sewage treatment plant. I am mainly interested in B&W film chemistry, but if folk here want to provide expertise on the other processes (E6, printing ...), and maybe too what folk should do if their waste goes to a cess pit, then we can turn this topic in to a sticky.
Thank you,
Charles
Putting it down the drain doesn't strike me as particularly wholesome, although I accept that the concentration of baddies is probably quite low by the time they get to the sewage treatment plant. I am mainly interested in B&W film chemistry, but if folk here want to provide expertise on the other processes (E6, printing ...), and maybe too what folk should do if their waste goes to a cess pit, then we can turn this topic in to a sticky.
Thank you,
Charles
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Re: Waste disposal
Hi Charles
Sorry I don't have any real answers,except electrolysis! but I am interested in this . At the moment I just worry about the fix or bleach/fix which luckily I can dispose of at work. The rest I just heavily dilute with water before pouring away to PH neutralise it(B&W devs and stops are pretty inocuous). I would be interested to know the best way of disposing of colour process stabilizer though, I know the the newer ones are low or no formaldehyde but as you say.....
Cheers
Chris
Sorry I don't have any real answers,except electrolysis! but I am interested in this . At the moment I just worry about the fix or bleach/fix which luckily I can dispose of at work. The rest I just heavily dilute with water before pouring away to PH neutralise it(B&W devs and stops are pretty inocuous). I would be interested to know the best way of disposing of colour process stabilizer though, I know the the newer ones are low or no formaldehyde but as you say.....
Cheers
Chris
- Glenn Haworth
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Re: Waste disposal
I have no answers either but it's something I'm also interested in. I currently only do E6 processing but I'm looking at expanding it to B&W and maybe C41 this year, so a nice clean safe way to dispose of the chemicals would be great.
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Re: Waste disposal
The amount of BW chems I use is fairly small, and I suppose the amount of mileage I get out of a batch of Barry Thornton's 2 bath developer (roughly the equivalent of 11 or 12 rolls of 120) sort of recompenses for any one-shot stuff I do (HC110 and Rodinal).
Diluting as much as possible for final disposal I suppose helps. And I am not on a septic tank though I think I would reconsider everything if I were!
Phil
Diluting as much as possible for final disposal I suppose helps. And I am not on a septic tank though I think I would reconsider everything if I were!
Phil
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Re: Waste disposal
Hi all. Some years ago when I was using more BW chemics than now (processing 40-50 rolls per week plus 20-30 5x4 I contacted the local council to ask how to dispose. The volumes I was using didn't warrant silver recovery. The answer was simple - 'put it down the drain, those quantities won't have an impact.' So I did. I assume that with the passage of time the volume of BW/colour chemicals has considerably reduced - but standards are now tougher. I guess the answer is to check out with the Environment Agency.
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Re: Waste disposal
Glen - lovely pic of the dandelion on your flikr page! How does it look full size?
- Glenn Haworth
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Re: Waste disposal
Thanks Michael. TBH I can't remember as it has been a long time since I've seen the full sized versionmichaelfinch wrote:Glen - lovely pic of the dandelion on your flikr page! How does it look full size?