Page 2 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 38

Thread: Darkroom from zero: Chems disposal

  1. #11
    multiplex
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
    Location
    local
    Posts
    5,345

    Re: Darkroom from zero: Chems disposal

    at the risk of me sounding like a used car salesman
    I've been selling silver magnets and trickle tanks ( the digital truth magnets are sold by me ) for more than a decade, they work OK ..
    I typically keep away from pyro type developers so I can't really suggest anything for that other than
    you might consider finding out when your region's has mat disposal day is and save up your chemistry and disposing of them there. it will be a drive..
    or you might locate and hire a regional waste hauler to give you a 15 or 50 gallon drum and and have them take it away, my guess is auto repair shops have waste haulers. ... and they might
    be able to point you in the right direction. ... as you probably know a hauler will give you a bill of lading / manifest / receipt that you can save with your important papers in case in the future if you are ever asked, you can show
    what you did .. and it might let you rest a bit easier too knowing you passed it off to a specialist ...
    it will take a long long time to fill a 50 gallon drum. .. so you won't have to worry about the waste hauler driving great distances often...
    feel free to contact me if you have an interest in the magnet or trickle tank, if I can't answer your questions I will contact the manufacturer and get back to you..
    John

  2. #12

    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    SooooCal/LA USA
    Posts
    2,801

    Re: Darkroom from zero: Chems disposal

    The definitive answer is to contact your local agency that handles septic disposal and get their recommendations... Explain you are a casual user (not a volume photo lab) and want to get it right and follow their guidelines...

    As mentioned, solutions with heavy metals are to be avoided, but the dilutions and compositions of your waste are minimal, and most of the ingredients in the solutions are also in higher concentrations in home and industrial cleaning products, so follow their advice, and work without guilt... ;-)

    Steve K

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    North Dakota
    Posts
    1,326

    Re: Darkroom from zero: Chems disposal

    Quote Originally Posted by LabRat View Post
    The definitive answer is to contact your local agency that handles septic disposal and get their recommendations... Explain you are a casual user (not a volume photo lab) and want to get it right and follow their guidelines...

    As mentioned, solutions with heavy metals are to be avoided, but the dilutions and compositions of your waste are minimal, and most of the ingredients in the solutions are also in higher concentrations in home and industrial cleaning products, so follow their advice, and work without guilt... ;-)

    Steve K
    He is in a SMALL town in a colder climate. An agency? Not likely. Generally a small plumbing business or independent suck truck operator. They come in, put the pipe into the septic, suck it out and... as we see here - drive into a neighboring field and dump the septic waste.

    If you start asking questions locally you might do it via phone without giving your name an location. Might save you someone coming out to ask questions and especially getting the wrong guy out who has nothing better to do that get pissy about things.

    Selenium and dichromates and such? If and when you use them and dump - put them in a jug with a mesh cover. Let the liquid evaporate over time - if a good plastic type container it would not break if it freezes. Once it evaporates you can wait until you go to the Big City and drop it off at a waste disposal station there.

    Eastman Kodak has told us for decades most home darkroom chemistry won't harm a septic system as there is not enough volume to do damage.

    Per Bruce Barnbaum your fix and developer can be mixed together before dumping.
    Last edited by Willie; 23-Dec-2021 at 09:34.
    ” Never attribute to inspiration that which can be adequately explained by delusion”.

  4. #14

    Re: Darkroom from zero: Chems disposal

    Rather than relying in anecdotal info here Send emails to the chemical manufacturers. Ilford, Kodak, Adox... and ASK them how to handle the chemicals . These manufactures have the definitive answers. If you have any doubt then collect the chemicals you use in movable containers and dispose of them at the hazardous waste sight. You will then be able to sleep at night. Also have your water tested before you do any disposal and then continue to monitor the water quality do not leave that to chance. Establish a base line and then see how it progresses. Septic systems vary considerable Old to new . Passive to active. Size and proximity to the well. What is the underground aquifer like ? Is it a dug well or a deep drilled well ( mine is 360 feet deep drilled). Be scientific in this disposal and err on the side of safety.

  5. #15

    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Newbury, Vermont
    Posts
    2,255

    Re: Darkroom from zero: Chems disposal

    We live in a rural area and have a bit of acreage...so what works here is a hand-dug drywell (isolated from any natural water flows/sources) - just over four feet deep to go below the lowest frost, which I've filled with a sand and gravel mix to allow the chemicals to percolate through this. Built a covered "well head" (pressure treated 4x4's and a plank of 3/4" plywood with two lifting handles) to cover this, and it works like a charm!

    I also mix my developers and fixers before disposing...just in case. And I save anything truly toxic...some toners and the like...for our yearly toxic waste disposal day.

  6. #16
    multiplex
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
    Location
    local
    Posts
    5,345

    Re: Darkroom from zero: Chems disposal

    Quote Originally Posted by Willie View Post
    Per Bruce Barnbaum your fix and developer can be mixed together before dumping.
    this might be OK where he lives, but it is different city to city town to town county to county
    to give you a real life example
    the local agency /commission in providence ri that handles mitigation / photo waste disposal told people never to do this,
    they had folks segregate the fixer ( and wash water ) and deal with that for the silver ( effluent can't be higher than 6 parts / million )
    everything else, developer, stop fixer remover could be mixed together to neutralize
    and in a sink full of water dilute it all and let it go down the drain... 6 miles away
    they don't want anything to go down the drain...

  7. #17

    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Vermont
    Posts
    253

    Re: Darkroom from zero: Chems disposal

    Manufacturers should have MSDS sheets online that recommend how to handle their chemicals.
    We had an old house in a suburban area, we started with a cess pool, a hole in the ground household liquid waste goes into, yes yucky, had to be pumped once a year. We were told by the town we needed a septic system. Talking with the town hazerdous waste expert, he drew up a plan after I explained I was a photographer. The folks that installed it said it was large for a single family home, but that was fine. The year after we installed the septic system the state passed a law putting all sorts of requirements on converting to septic. We paid about $4K talking with the hazerdous waste guy the about a year or two after he said a system like the one we had installed would be $20-30K. I am now in another old house in a rural area, we have a very small septic system, on the edge of needing replacement, so I have decided against putting in a darkroom,though I occasionally develop film.

  8. #18

    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Location
    near Prescott, Arizona
    Posts
    118

    Re: Darkroom from zero: Chems disposal

    Quote Originally Posted by RodinalDuchamp View Post
    I have called city hall to find out how I can dispose of chemistry but they don't have any answers for me. This is my biggest issue, before I get started I need to understand how to properly dispose of darkroom chemistry. I use pyrocat in glycol as one of my main developers. I also use d76 and all the other basic kodak chems.

    The biggest concern for me is that we are on a well and I can not risk contaminating our drinking water.
    About dumping chemicals into your septic tank and drain field: what volume of darkroom waste do you produce, and what kind of drain field do you have? Chances are that yours is a standard type, with long perforated pipes distributing waste water into gravel filled ditches, thence into the surrounding soil. If the soil on your property didn't/doesn't perc well, you may have a special drain field, and some of those can be very touchy. The soil on my property didn't perc when I built, so I had to install an expensive county-approved alternative system, one that required a series of buried, multilayered pads that incubate bacteria intended to neutralize effluent before it evaporates into the atmosphere. If you disrupt the bacteria-bearing pads via an accumulation of damaging chemical compounds, you're screwed.

    I dispose of all darkroom chemicals in the manner that Willie suggested: evaporation from mesh-covered galvanized steel tubs. That works well in central Arizona (at 5000 feet elevation), but maybe not so well in colder, wetter climes, unless you're at a substantial elevation. It's a little pain to use buckets, but ... the thought of dumping developer, fix, or HCA into the ground gives me hives.

    If you have a groundwater well, you have to worry about surface transport of waste chemicals into your well. Waste-bearing buckets at ground level would require special vigilance.

    Good luck!

  9. #19

    Join Date
    Sep 1998
    Location
    Oregon now (formerly Austria)
    Posts
    3,392

    Re: Darkroom from zero: Chems disposal

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you have a working septic system with a drain field, and it isn't contaminating your well water, then disposing of developer and some acetic acid stop into your septic system shouldn't contaminate your well water either. Both these chemicals should be broken down/neutralized quickly and converted to stable, non-toxic compounds quickly anyway.

    Used fixer does have dissolved silver in it in the form of argentothiosulfates. Maris Rusis' past posts indicate that even this breaks down and is converted to stable compounds in a septic system. That said, to be on the safe side, recovering the silver from the used fixer before disposing of it and/or disposing of it separately, i.e., not into the septic system, seems not too difficult. Ideally, one would have a local commercial lab that would take the fixer for silver recovery.

    If you're still not comfortable disposing of any chemicals into the septic system, then one of the evaporative methods would work well coupled with the occasional trip to the hazmat facility.

    I'd still recommend dealing with the used fixer separately, i.e., not mixing it with other chemicals, and finding a way to take the fixer for silver recovery.

    Best,

    Doremus

  10. #20

    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    klamath falls, oregon
    Posts
    1,728

    Re: Darkroom from zero: Chems disposal

    Good thread, of interest and use to me!

Similar Threads

  1. B/W film & B/W chems - What's in your darkroom?
    By jdurr in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 41
    Last Post: 23-Feb-2021, 17:30
  2. E6 chems in Australia
    By Michael_qrt in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 12-Feb-2015, 05:39
  3. Darkroom water supply, effluent disposal and environmental control - Survey
    By mickthurman in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 15-Mar-2014, 22:06
  4. Darkroom waste disposal?
    By Blair Ware in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 26-Aug-2009, 08:27
  5. darkroom chemical disposal
    By Tyson Fisher in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 14-Feb-2000, 20:18

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •