Are developing chemicals environmentally safe?

Andy Into The Wild

Andy Into The Wild

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I'm looking at possibly getting into film photography with an Olympus OM10, but I wanted to check whether developer, stopper and fixer are environmentally friendly seeing as they will ultimately going down the sink. I already shoot digital so if the chemicals are harmful, it would ultimately prevent me going down this route.

Thanks :)
 
The small quantities of photo chemical produced by amateurs should be no problem if flushed down the drain with plenty of dilution, and this is the most common way for amateurs.
Professionals should dispose of them through either the local authority or through specialist collectors of chemical waste.

None of them are especially toxic. Few of us are likely to use uranium or chromium intensifiers as we did in the 50's. All such heavy metals are toxic. but people still flushed them.
 
if you're worried about them, and provided you're on mains sewerage rather than a septic system, easiest way is to wait until you've got the washing machine on the go and pour the chemicals into the drain outdoors where the washing machine discharges into - that'll ensure that a) nothing remains around the "trap" in the sink and b) that everything's sufficiently diluted.
 
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If you want low environmental impact you could develop in Caffenol (bad instant coffee, washing soda and vitamin C) or slightly more mainstream Parodinal (Paracetamol, caustic soda [drain cleaner] and wine bottle steriliser [Campden tablets]) Fixing can be done in sodium thiosulphate (hypo) which is used to reduce chlorine levels in swimming pools. Once used the fixer contains silver which does not do sewage works or septic tanks much good in bulk, you can remove the silver by adding aluminium foil and letting it sit - the silver precipitates out and can be disposed of safely and the liquid left is aluminium sulphate solution. As @Terrywoodenpic said in the quantities we use at home not a great impact though my brother is careful about removing silver before it goes into his septic tank.
 
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If I might hijack the thread slightly, whats the general disposal instructions for c41? I've got an old colortec kit thats wazzocked, so need to get rid of it. I'm assuming down the drain as a no no, so... what? Local recycling centre?

TIA
 
VirtualAdept said:
If I might hijack the thread slightly, whats the general disposal instructions for c41? I've got an old colortec kit thats wazzocked, so need to get rid of it. I'm assuming down the drain as a no no, so... what? Local recycling centre?

TIA
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Some take in chemicals some don't need to phone your local council.
Some chemists will oblige and add it to their waste collection.
 
dmb said:
...Once used the fixer contains silver which does not do sewage works or septic tanks much good in bulk, you can remove the silver by adding aluminium foil and letting it sit - the silver precipitates out and can be disposed of safely and the liquid left is aluminium sulphate solution. As @Terrywoodenpic said in the quantities we use at home not a great impact though my brother is careful about removing silver before it goes into his septic tank.
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I hadn't heard of this. How do you remove the silver precipitate, and where would one dispose of it?
 
ChrisR said:
I hadn't heard of this. How do you remove the silver precipitate, and where would one dispose of it?
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The clear liquid above the precipitate can be carefully poured off or siphoned off and any unreacted aluminium removed for recycling. The gunge I transfer to another container to settle further and keep on adding gunge to that container and allowing to settle and remove any clear liquid. When the container gets full (which after 3 years it has not yet) then the idea is to allow it to dry and refine it. Will probably need to treat with sodium hydroxide to convert any aluminium to soluble hydroxide (that is a tricky step as hydrogen produced, so do it outside) wash and filter before microwave smelting. Will not really be an economic way of making silver and purity will be low but enough to make a small trinket.
 
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dmb said:
The clear liquid above the precipitate can be carefully poured off or siphoned off and any unreacted aluminium removed for recycling. The gunge I transfer to another container to settle further and keep on adding gunge to that container and allowing to settle and remove any clear liquid. When the container gets full (which after 3 years it has not yet) then the idea is to allow it to dry and refine it. Will probably need to treat with sodium hydroxide to convert any aluminium to soluble hydroxide (that is a tricky step as hydrogen produced, so do it outside) wash and filter before microwave smelting. Will not really be an economic way of making silver and purity will be low but enough to make a small trinket.
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My mum's first job was at a local photographers called Miller and Palin and one of her roles was to develop customer films, when the chemicals were worn out she deposited them in a large vat which was collected every six months or so by a company who removed the silver content and sold it on. Must have been worth it, I may get a big vat, this time next year we'll be millionaires Rodney :LOL:
 
Andysnap said:
.,.............she deposited them in a large vat which was collected every six months or so by a company who removed the silver content and sold it on. Must have been worth it, I may get a big vat, this time next year we'll be millionaires Rodney :LOL:
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Precious metal "recovery" is/was not limited to the photographic industry

I used to work for a company who had its origins in gold leaf.........during my time with them starting in 1991 we still sold a lot of leaf to sign makers. One year I was shown a rough ingot that had been assayed and it was valued at £2500. This was recovered by smelting the scrap contents of over 30 binbags stuffed with scrap bits of gold leaf still left on the transfer/carrier papers. Over the years a few customers asked about the service but when told just how much they would have to collect before submission (they may have had one bin bags worth) they did not bother. The one I mentioned must have been gathering it for decades!

On another one ~ not in my industry:- goldsmith's who make jewellery. I was told that they all had shagpile carpet in their workshops. This over the years collected the filings etc of the workers............eventually the carpet would be lifted and sent to the smelter. One refered to such a practice as "his pension"!
 
dmb said:
The clear liquid above the precipitate can be carefully poured off or siphoned off and any unreacted aluminium removed for recycling. The gunge I transfer to another container to settle further and keep on adding gunge to that container and allowing to settle and remove any clear liquid. When the container gets full (which after 3 years it has not yet) then the idea is to allow it to dry and refine it. Will probably need to treat with sodium hydroxide to convert any aluminium to soluble hydroxide (that is a tricky step as hydrogen produced, so do it outside) wash and filter before microwave smelting. Will not really be an economic way of making silver and purity will be low but enough to make a small trinket.
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I just absolutely love this, thanks David!
 
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