Exhausted chemical mixing for disposal

[elerion]

Is it ok to mix B&W developer and fixer in the same bottle once exhausted?
What about C41 chemicals? Developer, blix and stab?

I store the used chemicals and take them regularly to a place they can be safely disposed. But having a bottle for every single chemical is :bang:

Thanks!

 

[Bill Clark]

I use empty 2 liter soda bottles for black and white chemicals. I don't re-use a bottle that has had fixer with developer.

Same with C-41 chemicals but I use smaller bottles and don't re-use with a different chemical.

Hope this helps you.

Don't know where you live or if you're home is connected to a public sewer system.

Just to give you the amount processed here in the Twin Cities each day:

https://metrocouncil.org/About-Us/Facts/Wastewater-WaterF/FACTS-Wastewater.aspx

 

[sepiareverb]

B&W Chems can be mixed together, just not toners and stop bath. I don't remember about color.

You might find a 5L carboy jug at a local university. I used to use one to bring my fixer in for recycle.

 

[sevo]

Ask the disposal company you work with. Back when I still ran a ATL the local one wanted all stages mixed, except for the fixer/blix (which goes to silver recovery, and in the case of fixer, recycling).

And earlier on ready-mix chemicals were usually disposed of down the drain - where they inevitably mixed.

But read the specs for warnings and exceptions! Some chemicals used outside regular processing (like Farmer's reducer, selenium toners) can be dangerous when mixed with acids...

 

[elerion]

Ask the disposal company you work with.

They don't know.
They are not used anymore to work with photo chemicals.
But at least, giving it to them, I don't have to throw the chemicals into the public sewage, which isn't nice.

I usually mix stop and fixer in the same bottle, in small quantities. Sometimes developer and fixer. Having a bottle per chemical is bulky and not very comfortable. Specially with C41 and RA4. Too many bottles.

I just never mix stop with developer.

I read the manuals thoroughly, but haven't find any info about this. Knowing which chemicals can be mixed together would be of great help, for many people, I suppose, and probably preventing some from just pouring them down the drain.

 

[sevo]

I usually mix stop and fixer in the same bottle, in small quantities. Sometimes developer and fixer.

Stop (acetic or citric acid) is a component of acidic fixer, so these may be mixed.

Mixing anything with alkaline (colour) fixer or blix will however make it hard to regenerate them and recover the silver (mandatory in Germany), so they advise against that in product literature for pro fixes/blixes. My literature does not mention that it has any other negative consequences (like releasing toxic or smelly fumes, or forming a concrete-like precipitate), but that might simply mean that they never tried.

Some consumer grade small colour kits came with recommendations to mix all chemicals in the order of consumption, so some formulations do mix, but YMMV.

 

[elerion]

Thanks, I'll take note