Sil Horwitz (silh@iag.net)
Fri, 28 May 1999 11:50:08 -0400
At 99/05/28 10:56 AM -0400, Jerry Orabona wrote:
>One of my students asked me a question about septic tanks and
>photochemistry. Has anyone on the list had a similar experience?
>
> We will be moving in August and I just realized
>something, I have a septic tank in our new house in CT, and you cannot put
>any chemicals in there or you have trouble. I have to do some research on
>finding some companies who might pick up your chemical waste by using those
>big plastic drums, they pick up a full one and leave you an empty one. It is
>better for the environment anyway. If you know of any place I can call let
>me know. thank you. Sincerely. Brigitte Maier.
Don't know where you got the info about septic tanks, because many of the
chemicals we use are actually helpful. It depends on how much you plan to dump.
Commercially, yes, you will need to find a hazardous waste disposal contractor.
For "home" quantities, most organics and some metallic compounds will cause no
problems. Heavy metals (silver, platinum, lead, etc) might cause trouble as
they can affect the bacterial activity. You might check with Kodak, as I know
they had a paper on photochems in septic tanks. Anything biodegradable, of
course, will aid in the decomposition process. If you will be attending APIS
2000, I will be addressing this in my talk on "The Chemicals We Use."
Think of this: into your septic tank will go powerful washing and cleaning
compounds from your household chores! Many use the same materials (carbonates,
sulfites/sulfates, food poison residues of all kinds, etc) that are used in
photography. The big problem is that the "keepers of the waste" don't know, and
the usual answer is "hire a professional to dispose" because that's the easy
way out. Again, if you are not dealing with commercial quantities, use of a
hazardous waste disposal company is uncalled for.
Sil Horwitz, FPSA
Technical Editor, PSA Journal
silh@iag.net
Visit http://www.psa-photo.org/
Personal page: http://www.iag.net/~silh/
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