Re: Disposing of chemicals

Hi all,

   The research I have examined says the same. The silver salts are
heavy metals that are dangerous to the environment and eventually us
again.

   What do others use for stop baths, if anything? I use 2 water rinses
and move onto fixer. that's the way I learned it.

tim

> Someone was wondering about disposal of chemicals, a
> subject that has often bothered me. I did a little
> research by calling photo suppliers and local poison
> control people. There was surprisingly little
> information, but the consensus seems to be that most
> developers and stop baths are fairly benign and can be
> disposed of down the drain if well diluted (leave the
> water running).
>
> Spent fixer contains silver and therefore should not
> be disposed of this way. I keep a big plastic jug and
> store the stuff until the next toxics drive. Here in
> the US these drives are fairly common. When I lived in
> Japan there was no way to do this, so I had to just
> dump it, which always made me feel terribly guilty.
> Photoflo and other wetting agents are esentially mild
> detergents. These are OK. Selenium and many other
> toners are highly toxic and should not be dumped.
>
> There was some talk about alternative stop baths
> recently on the list. I guess things like citric acid
> and ascorbic acid would be even safer, as they are
> edibles.
>
> I am talking about B&W chemicals. Color processing
> chemicals are entirely different, of course.
>
> If anyone knows more about this, please let us know. I
> don't want to pass on misinformation, so speak up
> especially if I am wrong about any of this.
>
> Colin
>
>
>
>
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Timothy S. Midkiff

"Photographers get a Click out of life!"

ku4ap@vci.net
psycho_tim@excite.com
Received on Sun Feb 3 15:57:19 2002