# Best way to dispose fixer



## ckim32

I'm pretty sure I've posted something similar months ago.. but I was living in NY.  Anyhow, can anyone recommend the best way to dispose of fixer in the London area?  I process my B&W film at home but have no idea what to do with the fixer.  Cheers!


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## Bobby Ironsights

Depends whether or not you have a septic system or not. If you have a septic system, then put exhausted fixer in a spare coffee can with a few fine steel wool pads from any place that sells woodworking supplies. That'll get the silver out. Leave it for a day and then just pour it on the ground outside, but not into the veggie patch.

If you don't have a septic system just wash it down the drain. Silver isn't toxic, but it is an antibiotic which is why it mess's with septic tanks. 

In fact, I'm using a wound dressing with silver ions right now to keep some foot ulcers from getting infected. (I'm a paraplegic and sometimes I get pressure sores), but the steel wool should reduce the amount of Ag+ ions to trace levels.

Make certain your fixer is exhausted first by using a couple drops of potassium iodide solution.


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## bhop

I'm pretty sure pouring fixer down the drain is illegal in most U.S. states. (o.p. is in NY)

I know here in L.A. there are collection centers for toxic things.  I'm sure NY has them too.   Call up a photo lab or school that has a photography course and maybe they'll be willing to give you disposal info.


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## Christie Photo

bhop said:


> I'm pretty sure pouring fixer down the drain is illegal in most U.S. states.



uh oh....   I may be a criminal.  I did it for 30 years.


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## bhop

Heh.. well, i'm sure there's no way for them to really find out..


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## Sideburns

bhop said:


> Heh.. well, i'm sure there's no way for them to really find out..



Sure, but do you endorse killing the already messed up environment?


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## bhop

Sideburns said:


> Sure, but do you endorse killing the already messed up environment?



Not me.. I get mad when I see trash on the sidewalk.. I have jugs of fixer and old oil mineral spirits in my cabinet waiting for disposal.


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## JC1220

Heavy metals are what most are concerned about, i.e. silver. Most fixers today use ammonium thiosulfate, commonly found in dozens of household products that get dumped down the drain every day. 

Use half a pad per gallon. A black sludge will form as well in the container and this should be discarded in the trash, not the drain.

Also, using fixer to exhaustion creates complex silver compounds that are hard to break down and this trick becomes far less effective

Here is your original post:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87962


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## ScottS

Its not illegal in Colorado, and I'm pretty sure that unless the area that you are in sends raw sewage out into the ocean, the environment is fine. 

And like bobby said, silver is not toxic, as a matter of fact, the mine silver out of the ground!!


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## nealjpage

I pour mine down the drain, just like I do with anti-freeze.  Most American cities (Note:  this only applies to cities with sewage treatment plants) treat their sewage to remove toxins before releasing the effluent into evaporating ponds or into local rivers.  This water is "clean," according to the EPA (not that I'd want to _drink_ it, but it's not dangerous) enough for the adjacent waters to be used for swimming.  That's the idea of the Clean Water Act, BTW.  Silver, as a heavy metal, will have been removed through the sedimentation process.


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## usayit

I store mine in containers until disposed at my local recycling center.


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## joyride

I take it to school and pour it in thiers when my old teacher is there.  Dont know what i am going to do next year when I move though.


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## ckim32

Thanks everyone!   I tried to call one of the schools around here and they're not sure if they want to take my used fixer!  I think I'll try to do the thing w/ the can and spill it out... I dunno... if my building has a septic system...


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## Rhys

Developer mixed with fixer forms a nearly neutral mass. That can safely be disposed of down the drains.

Alternatively, dilute it and pour it down the drain. 

Stop bath is acetic acid aka vinegar and that really doesn't matter.

Before you dispose of your fixer, settle the silver out of it. Eventually you'll get enough silver to be able to sell it.


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## theres126

What about developer - how should it be disposed of?


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## Christie Photo

Right down the drain.

If you're dealing with small amounts of chemistry, just dump it.  You'd have to have an enormous amount on a daily basis to have any concern.  Really.  Peeing in a swimming pool would be far worse.


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## theres126

Even with a septic system??


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## jedithebomber

theres126 said:


> Even with a septic system??



This is what I am worried about since I am currently building my darkroom. According to the information I have found on google searches, it is suggested that none of the chemicals go down the drain since some of them mess with the septic tank process in different ways (de-oxygenation, killing  bacteria, messing with the PH). Then again many people seem to do it and have no problems. As for me, I think I will keep a 5 gallon bucket under the sink for disposal. Worse comes to worse I will solidify it and send it off with the trash or something.


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## lonewolfe

Rhys said:


> Before you dispose of your fixer, settle the silver out of it. Eventually you'll get enough silver to be able to sell it.



how do you do that im fairly new to all of this


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## Rhys

lonewolfe said:


> how do you do that im fairly new to all of this



Pour the solution into a tall, thin glass beaker. Wait a week or so for the sedement to settle. Pour off the excess liquid (down the drain) - without pouring the sedement out. Pour the sedement into a different container. Repeat the process. Let the sedement dry and you have silver salts remaining.


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## lonewolfe

ok thanks i need to try this eventually


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## digital flower

nealjpage said:


> I pour mine down the drain, just like I do with anti-freeze.




I don't think you are suppose to pour anti-freeze down the drain.


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## safesilverrecovery

The EPA federal guideline in 5 parts per million. Anything over that it is considered a hazardous waste. As such it is supposed to be transported on a hazardous waste manifest........realistically is anyone going to find out if you are a residential user...no. I know have medical practices out in the stixks that just dump it in the septic for 30 years.


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## ann

another 3 year old thread appears.


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## maris

I've had the luck to enjoy a career in scientific research and analytical chemistry before taking up photography full time. One of my challenges was teaching chemists at the local water supply and sewerage department about photographic chemicals in the effluent they had to treat. Of course I had an agenda. I wanted building approval for a house with sizeable darkroom in it. They did said yes to my plans.

The following does not apply to industrial scale photo materials manufacturing or a major processing lab, only households connected to a sewer line or a proper septic system:

Developers are mild reducing agents that oxidise rapidly to inert components. The BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) challenge offered by a darkroom is much smaller than the BOD from a dishwasher, in-sink garbage disposal unit, or a toilet.

Stop bath is a very mild acid that has no measurable effects on highly buffered systems like septic tanks or sewerage treatment plants.

In moderate quantities (pounds, not tons) silver  tetrathionate and similar compounds which characterise used fixer don't  harm sewerage treatment systems. The silver very quickly gets converted  to silver sulphide in the presence of the free sulphide ion (smells like rotten eggs!). Silver  sulphide is geologically stable and inert and has one of the lowest  solubility products known in chemistry. The stability and inertness of  silver sulphide is the key to the remarkable archival properties of  sepia toned photographs.

Before my darkroom was approved by my local council I had to calculate  the silver concentration in my total household effluent. I'm pretty busy  and use a few thousand sheets of film and paper per year but the result  came to about 5 parts per billion. By the time this mixes with the  output of the other 20 000 households that don't process photographic  materials the silver concentration is below any conceivable detection  limit down at the sewerage treatment plant. 

You can do your own calculations. Just calculate your yearly use of silver from your photographic materials consumption and divide this by your yearly water consumption from the water meter.

The world being what it is many local effluent standards are written by lawyers and/or accountants who don't know a dot of chemistry but known about culpability and lawsuits. If you encounter such local regulations and you want to ask permission I guess you have to do what they say.


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## Robert_Maxey

Christie Photo said:


> bhop said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm pretty sure pouring fixer down the drain is illegal in most U.S. states.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> uh oh....   I may be a criminal.  I did it for 30 years.
Click to expand...


Thirty years, we did it since 1890. Silver collection? We didn't need no silver recovery. Too bad, we dumped the net worth of a small country down the drains, I should think.


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## ann

People this thread was started in 2008 , I don't think the Op is still around or even cares anymore


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