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Technical Talk Part 10
Disposing of waste chemicals.
Recent years have seen an increasing awareness of the effects of pollution, whether it be of the land, water or air. Legislation now means that it is illegal to discharge any hazardous waste into the water system. Meaning not only sewers and drains, but rivers, streams and ground water. From what I can gather, and there was some confusion between what I was told by different authorities, all photographic chemicals are included, if only by default. However, there's no doubt that heavy metals like silver must not be discharged in any but the smallest of quantities. This allows wash water to go down the drain, but used fixer, which contains relatively large amounts of silver, must not. This is not that much of a problem for professional labs, which have the benefits of large volumes and have several options for the storage and disposal of their waste chemicals. Labs also have the incentive that it is a simple matter for the water authorities to look through their records, identify the labs in their area, test the waste water coming out and prosecute any that do not comply. I doubt though that anyone who tips a couple of litres of dev, stop and fix down the drain every now and again at home could ever be traced. That doesn't mean we can ignore it and there is still the matter of being Green and not adding to pollution if we can help it.

For the amateur, unless the local council or photo shop has some scheme, the only solution seems to be that run by Tudor Photographic Ltd. Called Tudor Can, they supply 25 litre plastic drums, at a cost of £17.63 each plus a delivery charge of £5.88, for the storage of waste chemicals. When full, you phone and arrange for them to be collected at no additional cost (minimum collection is two drums). Phone Tudor on 0181-202-0811 for more details. At roughly 83p per litre of waste and the need to store the two drums out of harms way, it's not exactly attractive for the amateur. (It's possible to reduce the amount to be collected by leaving the caps off the drums and letting some of the water evaporate. The drums would then need to be stored in a well ventilated place, out of the reach of children and animals, but safe from falling or being knocked over.) There can be problems with this since, if used fixer is left too long, silver and sulphur can separate out making it a different problem for recovery and disposal.

All this may make you decide that it's time to go digital. Unfortunately, computers are far from Green, with a variety of hazardous substances not only being used in their manufacture, but lurking inside as well. The mixture of materials used makes it very difficult to separate them for recycling and safe disposal, unlike silver. New legislation is being planned to control the disposal of computers and other electrical and electronic goods. They use much more electricity than the average darkroom. So the problem is only moved away a bit, it doesn't go away. They also use a lot more materials in their construction than cameras and enlargers and don't seem to last as long either. I have a camera and an enlarger both made over 45 years ago and they work as good as they did the day they were made. The nine year old 286 pc I'm writing this on, although working perfectly well, couldn't even load Photoshop, let alone run it.

With thanks to: Ilford Ltd, Agfa Ltd, Thames Water, The Environment Agency, Tudor Photographic Ltd, Silver Lining Ltd, Friends of The Earth, Ethical Consumer Research Association, Waltham Forest Council.

© Barry Leighton FRPS