There is nothing wrong with getting information but bear in mind that the
amount of chemistry being disposed from a home hobby darkroom is pretty
minuscule. All the water poured into a septic system from daily household
activities dilutes any disposed chemistry tremendously as well.
Silver which seems to be the "bad" substance, which EPA worries about, was
not a heavy metal when I took chemistry in high school and college. Lead,
cadmium etc. are heavy metals. Silver has been used in medications, food
serving ware and utensils for centuries.
Large lab operations use recovery devices to reclaim significant amounts of
free silver from spent fixer but it is not really practical for the home
hobbyist.
I've had a frequently used dark room in my home for 15 years and my septic
tank works just fine.
This subject comes up in Photo Techniques magazine (the US one) fairly
regularly and their answers seem to concur with my experience.
Mike Gardner
| Kodak has some information about chemical disposal including recycling
| centers:
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|