How much $ do Labs make on Silver Recovery?

MingMingPhoto · Jan 22, 2021

Has anyone worked in a lab and know this answer to this? I'm wondering if it's worth it for me to collect my old fixer, or if I should ship it off to my local darkroom to use.

ChristopherCoy · Jan 22, 2021

@jnantz is the guy to ask I think.

removed account4 · Jan 22, 2021

Hey MimgMingPhoto

As they say it all depends on how spent your fixer is --- some suggest there may be around 1/4 troy oz / gallon of (well used) fixer, so it all boils down to your studio practice ( of how much you re-use your fixer ) and the spot price of silver. At the moment the spot price of silver is around $25.50.

Not sure how much a lab makes, some typically have a waste hauler they pay to remove it ... others might have a device ( combination electrolytic + ion transfer ) ...
Feel free to drop me a line if you want some more details, I'll be happy to send you info on a couple affordable situations.
John

MingMingPhoto · Jan 22, 2021

Thank you both!

Okay so thank you for that info. I'm trying to figure out some estimations. If I'm running a full c41 process do you have an estimation of how much silver would be left? I'm resuing my fixer multiple times. Just an educated estimation per gallon or however would be really useful!

removed account4 · Jan 23, 2021

hi MingMingPhoto
I wish I had a useful answer for you, but I don't. If you have a lab near you it might be worth it to ask them these questions.
sorry I can't be more help.
John

Mr Bill · Jan 23, 2021

The amount of silver available is gonna be mostly in proportion to the amount of film you process. It's pretty much that simple (aside from the fact that films vary a bit in their silver content). So unless you know how much film you'll be processing...

The amount of silver in your fixer, more correctly the silver concentration, is gonna depend mainly on how you use the fixer. This is where things can get complicated. Now, for small quantities you probably don't care too much about things - just don't overuse the fixer too much.

So, do you have any idea as to how much film you will be processing?

bripriuk · Jan 26, 2021

I think it would only be viable if you had large or industrial quantities.
When I started working in a lab in 1970 silver recovery played an important part - we did it ourselves with an electrolytic unit. Through the years the price of silver went up and down, but finally you were lucky if companies took the bleach/fix away for nothing, and by the time we closed the lab 15 tears ago we had to pay them, as it was a legal requirement to have it processed. Today, by far the main source is x-ray film and fixer, they haven't digitised that yet.

Brian P

Kino · Jan 26, 2021

At one time, when I was working at full capacity in a one shift motion picture lab processing about a million feet of b&w film a year, we would get about one to one point five thousand troy ounces of silver from our silver recovery system. That would just about pay for the electricity and refining fees to recover the silver.

You won't get rich, but you can offset your operating costs slightly with high volume...

Adrian Bacon · Jan 27, 2021

MingMingPhoto said:
Has anyone worked in a lab and know this answer to this? I'm wondering if it's worth it for me to collect my old fixer, or if I should ship it off to my local darkroom to use.

I own and operate a lab. It's a waste stream that costs money. In my area, I'm required to keep records of how much waste is produced and how it is safely disposed of via authorized waste disposal companies, and I regularly get audited by my local municipality. Trying to recover silver from used fixer is not a profitable endeavor. It's far simpler and easier to just simply dispose of the fixer using the approved methods (which you have to do anyway). Sure you could try to defray some of that cost via silver recovery, but that just adds complexity and introduces questions when you get audited and the inspector (who has the power to shut you down) is standing in your lab.

How much $ do Labs make on Silver Recovery?

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency