Re: [Leica] Effluent disposal

["Joe Stephenson" <joeleica@email.msn.com>]

Ted,
I would not dream of jumping on you. What you say is quite sensible and
true. many of the laws and rules were made for high-volume users and are
simply absurd when applied to a home darkroom. Educate yourself and act
responsibly. After all, people have been using most of hte common
photchemicals for decades with little danger--other than allergies,
especially to developers.
Joe Stephenson
- -----Original Message-----
From: Ted Grant <tedgrant@islandnet.com>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Friday, October 23, 1998 12:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Effluent disposal


>RM wrote:
>
><<<Special warning if you are a pro, using your darkroom for commercial
>use. This takes the discussion to an entirely new level. Call and check. At
>one time, it was not even an issue, but these days, you might be
>surprised at what you find out.>>>>>>>>>
>
>Hi folks,
>
>I have to say up front that I'm as conscious of the environment as anyone
>and trying to protect it from the abuse of the past all the time.
>
>That said;
>
>There are times you're better off keeping your mouth shut when it comes to
>asking the local municipal bureaucrats for information on dumping your
>exhausted chemicals down the drain.
>
>These people, certainly some of them, have no common sense factor in
>applying the regulations and are zealots of the worst kind. Once you open
>the can of worms of one simple question of dumping your exhausted stuff
>down the drain, the next thing you know they are into your house or office
>darkroom measuring everything from the air you breath (contaminating the
>environment of the city) to measuring the material your pouring down the
>sink, to checking the outflow sewers and then they can or will send you a
>bill for all their troubles.
>
>And you don't want to see the amount!!!!!!!!!!
>
>Then in turn they'll lay down regulations that your 2 liters of chemistry
>must be carted away by truck through a chemical waste disposal company at a
>hefty charge to you.
>
>Look, when you're ready to dump your trays, dump them all together and stir
>well. Each will kill off the other and then add gallons of water and flush
>down the drain with lots and lots of running water. Everything becomes so
>diluted, it's dead liquid anyway by this time, and it's gone without any
>effect to the environment. Obviously I'm not talking about hundreds of
>gallons here, but a tray full of happy snap printing.
>
>We have a situation in this city, if you have a processing lab that has
>been in business for a long time before the new regulations and have been
>dumping down the drain in this method, that's OK.  However, today if you
>are  going to open a new lab the regulations you have to follow are
>incredible to the extent that the liquids must be pumped into disposable
>chemicals truck and taken to someone elses back yard for dumping. Wherever
>that is?
>
>So I'd take heed in calling the local environment office if you are an
>amateur and changing only a few quarts of chemistry every once and a while.
>You may open the biggest can of costly worms than you can imagine.
>
>Now don't get on my case about not being careful about the environment, I'm
>very conscious about it, as I don't even use chemicals in my rose gardens
>to  keep the critters from destroying the flowers, I pick them off by hand
>and give them an instant lesson of squishy and squeeze. Or washing them off
>with the hose.
>
>All the compostable elements of the family go into the compost box and are
>dug back into the garden each year.
>
>What I hate are the mental midget bureaucrats who come riding in like
>Knights on white steeds with over regulated minds concerned about a couple
>of liters of exhausted liquids.
>
>So my advice if you're an amateur, dispose carefully by killing the
>chemistry into dead liquid and washing it down the drain well, I wouldn't
>call the local enviro-squad or you'll open the worst pandora's box you can
>imagine.
>
>Now please don't jump all over me, as it could be completely different
>where you live.
>
>ted
>
>