From: Shannon Stoney (shannonstoney@earthlink.net)
Date: 06/16/03-07:07:41 AM Z
>
> i've been using cyanotype, van dyke, and gum
> chemistry, as well as the occasional film processing
> chemistry (just tmax down the drain, of course)...are
> any of these ok to be dumping down a septic system?
I have a septic system too, and I don't dump photochemicals in it. I put
them in empty orange juice plastic jugs and take them to the dump. I don't
know if this is that much better environmentally, but it seems a little
better to me. Another possibility I have thought of is to dig a hole
somewhere on my farm, away from food crops, springs, and creeks--a sort of
high, dry, rocky, brambly place--and pour them in there. Of course I
wouldn't do this with anything I know to be toxic like the bichromates in
gum. I don't know how you would dispose of them. I mostly have cyanotype
(pretty nontoxic) and silver chemistry to dispose of.
When I am in a city, I save the chemicals in the same plastic jugs and
periodically take them to a university where they have big plastic drums for
used photochemicals. These are periodically hauled away and "recycled"
somehow. This would probably be the best way to throw away gum chemistry.
--shannon
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : 07/09/03-08:31:13 AM Z CST