Hello From The UK (West Sussex)

[AnthonyJC]

One of the great things about LF, Anthony, is that you can make much larger messes quite easily. Welcome and good luck!

Exactly!!

However having had one of those "right place at the right time" moments, I have just picked up a lovely Saunders/LPL 7451 enlarger to replace my Beseler 23c.

Came complete with a set of meg holders.

Making a few changes in the darkroom currently to accommodate the taller column of the 7451, but like a challenge or two to overcome.


Anthony

[j.e.simmons]

Welcome, post often from a fellow Sinar user (and Graflex, and Wehman, and Nikon, and Mamiya - do I have too many cameras?_

[NickL]

Hello from Kent, Anthony.

I'm also a relative newcomer to the large format world, incl. home development.

Can you say how you go about disposal of photographic chemicals in West Sussex ?

Regards,

Nick

[AnthonyJC]

Hello from Kent, Anthony.

I'm also a relative newcomer to the large format world, incl. home development.

Can you say how you go about disposal of photographic chemicals in West Sussex ?

Regards,

Nick

Hi Nick,

I currently use off the shelf chemicals for film processing.

I neutralise the developer by mixing it with stop and then dilute again before rinsing it down the drain. I use Jobo tanks & a CPE processor currently so the amounts are very very small and I follow Ilford's MSDS information.

For fix I collect that into a separate 25 litre plastic tank in the dark room, and then get that collected by a specialist chemical recovery processing business about every 18 months or when it full which ever occurs first.

The local council run tip can accept chemicals as long as you have the MSDS and the container is correctly labelled with the appropriate Orange diamond symbol.

With the expansion into LF and the opportunities for some expansion of developing chemicals etc (Pyrocat etc) I will need to do some detailed research on disposal. In the mean time I will still neutralise in the same manner with the stop bath and collect in another 25litre drum until I am completely satisfied that I am correctly dealing with them.

Best Regards

Anthony

[NickL]

Anthony,

Thanks for this information. Always useful to know how others in the UK are going about it. I am similarly mixing my developer & stop to neutralise before putting the in the drain. I use a 3" water pipe & 80ml each of developer, stop & fixer to process a half-plate negative. So I think my quantities are similarly small. A litre of each chemical does about 12 negs.

Could you say who collects your fixer ? I have tried my nearest council tip that accepts chemicals, but the chap there said they had to be in the original containers. Since I'm mixing powder that doesn't work. I could perhaps remove the labelling from the powder sachets & see if they'll take a litre of used fixer in a plastic container, correctly labelled. I suspect the reception depends on who you get to speak to at the tip, so a bit of pot luck.

I did look up the codes for fixer solutions (ie wastes containing silver) in the Environmental Agency WM3 document, but I got a bit bogged down in absolute and mirror hazardous definitions.

Regards,

Nick

[AnthonyJC]

Hi Nick,

For the local tip I find that peeling off the original label (with the orange triangle(s) clearly visible) and attaching that to the container of waste greatly assists with them accepting small quantities.

Its a lot better than just a verbal confirmation of what's inside, which maybe putting off your local tip team.

For larger quantities >25 litres I have used csg.co.uk successfully in the past.

Also might be worth reaching out to a local business in your area that has hazardous liquids that require professional disposal to see if there is a local company that can assist.

Think about businesses such a chrome platers, hot dip galvanisers etc as a start.

Best regards

Antony