From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 05/01/00-07:44:27 PM Z
On Tue, 2 May 2000, Liam Lawless wrote:
> some of the things we go (e.g. recycling) are of little practical
> value. The various testimonies have convinced me beyond reasonable
> doubt that dichromate disposal on a small scale does not pose a
> problem in my own environment, but - what the hell? - it's (I imagine)
> almost as easy to treat the stuff as it is to throw it away, so I'll
> do it in future.
>
> Am presently conducting a test. Hypo added to a dichromate solution turned
> it dark green-blue and formed a cloudy white suspension that hovered in a
> band just below the surface. Nothing settled out (after about 3 hours), so
> sod. hydroxide was added. This produced more of the suspension and the top
> inch or so of the liquid became clear and paler in colour, but the
> suspension still shows no sign of settling - looks like it will take
> overnight, maybe longer. Will keep the list posted.
Liam, you're describing precisely the experience I had when I tried that
also with dichromate residue about 3 years ago. I ended up adding so much
chemical, and STILL didn't get the supposed results, I figured the added
chemicals were more harmful than the dichromate, and just dumped that
*poison* right down the drain.
Oh, one other thing I used to do -- for quite a while I let my first-tray
wash water evaporate to a powder and then disposed of it in dry trash
(I've even tried toxic waste disposal in this city, for which I can only
say *fuggedaboud it*), but then I got antsy about having it evaporate into
my air and having all that more concentrated solution under foot (we are
in relatively close quarters, you know) and figured that the water gets
some testing and filtering, which landfill doesn't, and my energies were
better invested in other good deeds.
Judy
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