How hazardous is developer?

[zeroeseight]

I just bought some Ilford ID-11 and Perceptol in an attempt to try developing my first roll of film at home. Reading the warnings on the packaging it seems pretty scary stuff or am I paranoid?

Does anyone dispose of the packaging and materials at a special or hazardous waste collection point as it recommends or do you just leave it with household waste?

[Bronikon]

:Hi Zeroeseight ,if you have a installed an extracter in your darkroom you should have no problems . I think the fixer is more hazardous ,I have no sink in my darkroom so i have to use kitchen sink spalshes on countless t shirts shirts and as i hAVE TO walk past MY BED I HAVE RUINED MANY OF THE DOUVE COVERS SHEETS ETC MY WIFE IS GOING NUTS THE BLOODY STAINS DONT COME OUT.
Guid Health

[chuckles]

It's best not to drink it! :naughty:

The metol used in ID-11 and Perceptol is nasty stuff in the staining department. They will come but not without the use of even more hazardous chemicals!

In the olden days it all used to just go down the sink! Fixer in commercial labs goes away for recovering the silver.

The worst stuff of them all is the bleach used in some bleach/fix solutions for E6/C41 processing....... potassium ferricyanide. You don't have to be a chemical analyst to work why!

[Steep]

As chuckles says, just don't drink it. Use rubber gloves to avoid staining your fingers ( I used to find tongs marked the prints ) I too used to pour it down the drain, though it might make fairly good weedkiller too ;)

[zeroeseight]

Thanks for the replies. I was concerned about the creating stock step, the likelihood of breathing in the powder dust. I think I am going to get a dust mask from the local diy store.

Do you think its okay to dispose of the packaging in household waste?

[Steep]

I would.