>>>Certainly we all need to consider the "lifecycle" of all that we do. But
what is "a responsible recycling facility"?? In Saskatoon, about all that I
know of is silver recovery from the fixer. I am sure I am not atypical in
having a veritable storehouse of chemicals in my darkroom. In an ideal
world, each one would need a separate disposable program to make the
chemical acceptably benign to the environment. What are these other
facilities??
Some of the steps we can take include silver recovery because silver compounds do cause problems. Granted, the occasional printer/amateur will likely not generate large quantities of effluents. We can also use any (if there are any) chemicals that neutralize the chemicals we use. In my past, I have used selenium compounds, mercury, cyanide and other chemicals that were routinely used by printers.
In thinking about this issue, I shudder to think how much silver was lost in our process. You cannot run hundreds of rolls and sheets of film and thousands upon thousands of prints from 1890 to 1985 or so without dumping large quantities of valuable silver. Never in our long history did we attempt to recover any silver.
We used deep tanks and in the room we used to process roll film, you could see the silver when you cleaned out the sludge.
You might also consider your situation. If you are an amateur, dumping chemicals is not a serious issue in the eyes of the law. Well, perhaps not generally. As soon as you become a "professional" you run up against rules that apply to "manufacturers" that do not apply to the amateur.
Bob
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Received on Fri Apr 1 21:10:17 2005
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