oh man, what have I done!?

[PatrickOneill]

Hello APUG!

I'm not new to film or photography (after a few years of exclusive use of digital), but I am easing myself back into film once more, hoping to make it my medium of choice.

APUG is so HUGE, I wish I knew where to start.

I have a mix of tmax, hp5, PanF and tri-x sitting in my fridge waiting for me to settle on a developer.

I'm slowing accumulating all the equipment to soup the film myself, but I'm so hesitant to start. partly because I need to figure out what to do with the used developer (one shot dev) because I have a septic system.

What I see myself doing would be to get into shooting and developing b&w and c-41. (E-6 if I can find bulk rolls and a home developing kit) and finally, there is the two remaining rolls of kodachrome.

Anyways. Hello!

 

[2F/2F]

Hi,

Does your locality or county have a hazardous waste disposal facility? If unsure about anything to be disposed of from your darkroom, this is a good route to take. Even though most developers and stop baths are relatively mild stuff, it can never hurt to just take it all in for disposal by your local or county government.

John Nanian, a poster here on A.P.U.G., can supply you with a silver magnet and/or a trickle tank for the fixer.

 

[PatrickOneill]

I'm extra cautious because the house gets it water from a well. don't want to risk any kind of possibility of contamination.

a quick google search found a company not to far away from me. thats good news!

 

[MattKing]

You may want to consider X-Tol as your film developer of choice, due to its relatively benign environmental "footprint".

 

[jeffreyg]

The Ilford website has a lot of information about the biodegradability of photographic chemicals.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

... Does your locality or county have a hazardous waste disposal facility? If unsure about anything to be disposed of from your darkroom, this is a good route to take. ...

I second this approach!

 

[removed account4]

I second this approach!

+ 2

 

[Jeff Kubach]

Hello and a warm welcome to APUG! Can you use 1 gallon jugs and take to a local disposle site?


Jeff

 

[dehk]

I got a well at my house, and my D76 (well 1:1, so i can absorb it slowly) goes down my drain, hopefully I'll develop better skills in photography after drinking that water. That's my master plan.

 

[michaelbsc]

I pour Ilford MG paper developer and DD-X film developer down the drain to a septic tank, as well as the stop bath (acetic acid - wow, vinegar). But I DO NOT pour fixer into the septic tank. The silver is a microbicide, and you need those little bugs to stay healthy.

The fixer I evaporate in an old jug with no top over time, and so far I've not figured out what to do with it. I guess you can say I'm hoarding it, but I'd really like to figure out where to get rid of it.

My local county rules say a hobby darkroom is safe to dispose of down the drain, but I'm not in a neighborhood that's on the municipal sewer system.

(For that matter, I'm not even in a neighborhood with cable TV. It's not quite like Green Acres with the phone up the pole, but the local phone company sucks so bad I took the phone out and just use the cell phone like the young kids. The cell phone gives me internet access. It's faster than the dial-up anyway.)

 

[SMBooth]

Experiment with coffee developers, not going to harm anything.

 

[JLP]

You could also go with a replenisher type developer such as the Harvey 777 Panthermic.
Search here on APUG and you should find plenty information to get started.
Stop and fix would still be an issue no matter what type of developer you choose.

 

[2F/2F]

You could also go with a replenisher type developer such as the Harvey 777 Panthermic.
Search here on APUG and you should find plenty information to get started.
Stop and fix would still be an issue no matter what type of developer you choose.

It's a great idea to go with replenished development to cut down on the waste of which you have to dispose.

D-76 is easily replenished, as is HC-110. Kodak sells pre-packaged developer and replenisher for both of these. They may have other pre-packaged developer/replenisher as well, such as T-Max, though I am not sure. I know some people on A.P.U.G. use replenished X-Tol too.

 

[MattKing]

Sadly, the pre-packaged HC-110 replenisher has been discontinued.

 

[2F/2F]

Sadly, the pre-packaged HC-110 replenisher has been discontinued.

Has it? Wow. They have it on the shelf at Freestyle, so stock up if you want some.

 

[MattKing]

If anyone needs some HC-110 replenisher, I have a bottle that I bought by mistake (the packaging is incredibly similar to HC-110 itself, if you stupidly ignore the cap colour).

I expect that the discontinuation happened because the X-Tol replenishment regime is so simple, straightforward and economical, and as a result most of those who do use replenishment have moved to X-Tol.

 

[Mats_A]

Another one returns home!
Welcome. This is a friendly place and I have learned a LOT during my (so far) short stay.

Anyway, a warm welcome from Finland where we had the summer of the century and are now going toward autumn. Time to break out the Velvia and shoot some trees.

r

Mats

 

[papagene]

Patrick - hello and welcome to APUG from western Massachusetts.

 

[PatrickOneill]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! I hope to share some work soon as I get the film developed!