Developing BW negatives at home

timothychanzl · 9th November 2006

The chemicals are toxic. Is it wrong to pour down the sink ?

fastshot · 12th November 2006

The only bad thing in the film chemicals that we should not pour down the sewer is silver ions. Commercial operations that uses alot of chemicals generally have to do the silver recovery before disposing the chemicals. The silver can be sold for good money too.

For home use, the volume of b/w chemistry used is so small that it can be poured down the sewer without problem. This does not violate environmental laws here. However, this should be avoided if you operate your own septic tank underground because it may affect the bacteria action in it.

In practice, I avoid disposing of colour chemistry down the sewer because these chemicals seems alot more toxic than the b/w ones. I bottle the spent chemicals in plastic containers and send it through the regular garbage collection.

timothychanzl · 12th November 2006

I see i see .. thanks

9th November 2006	#1
timothychanzl Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 215	Developing BW negatives at home The chemicals are toxic. Is it wrong to pour down the sink ? Last edited by timothychanzl; 10th November 2006 at 11:39 PM.

12th November 2006	#2
fastshot Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: 3rd Mile Stone Posts: 374	Re: Developing BW negatives at home The only bad thing in the film chemicals that we should not pour down the sewer is silver ions. Commercial operations that uses alot of chemicals generally have to do the silver recovery before disposing the chemicals. The silver can be sold for good money too. For home use, the volume of b/w chemistry used is so small that it can be poured down the sewer without problem. This does not violate environmental laws here. However, this should be avoided if you operate your own septic tank underground because it may affect the bacteria action in it. In practice, I avoid disposing of colour chemistry down the sewer because these chemicals seems alot more toxic than the b/w ones. I bottle the spent chemicals in plastic containers and send it through the regular garbage collection.

12th November 2006	#3
timothychanzl Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 215	Re: Developing BW negatives at home I see i see .. thanks