Precautions regarding mixed chemical waste?

[Joakim Målare]

Well, I tried to nail the subject in the title, but here's the longer version.

For B/W, I dump every exhausted or one-shot mix of chemicals in a 25 liter container after use - everything except the rinse baths. When the container is full I leave it at the local recycling center and hope they take good care of it.

So far all is well, but now I have my first set of used E-6 bottles (FD, CD, BX, stab) to get rid of and I started wondering if there are any particular combinations of liquids that may cause nasty reactions?

In short, can I dump everything from the darkroom in a single container and not have an explosion?

 

[kennylovrin]

I had the exact same question just a month ago or such. I came to the conclusion that they shouldn't be mixed, but rather for the reason that they might need to be handled differently. So by mixing them that kind of makes that hard.

I read on their web page that everything should be marked with what it contains, and that gets tricky if it is mixed. I checked The Sysav website which is Swedish but probably for south of Sweden. I would imagine these regulations to be the same at least country wide.

I'm on my phone now so can't easily find the link, will try to remember later. 🙂

 

[Joakim Målare]

...they might need to be handled differently.

Good point, I need to look into that. It would require a little more space at home, storing the substances separately, but anything that can ease the waste treatment should keep the guys at the recycling center happy.

Happy happy, joy joy.

 

[pirx70]

I place everything separately with the original sticker on (one dev for prints, two for negatives). I would definitely not mix developer and fixer, there is separate silver recovery procedure for fixer I think.

 

[colyn]

Since I retired a few years ago I have worked parttime for a photo services company. We use large quantities of developing chemicals. We dump the exhausted chemicals down the drain since the sewage company says it is safe to do. We only dispose of silver recovered chemicals via a service since this process uses chemicals which are not safe to dump.