Silver Recovery Program

Clean Water Services’ Pretreatment Program strives to maximize the operating efficiency of the District’s treatment plants by regulating the types and quantities of pollutants that enter the public sewer system. Silver has become a substance of concern and is targeted for reduction by the Pretreatment Program. The District has developed a Silver Reduction Program to reduce the level of silver coming into the wastewater treatment plants.

Permit?

The goal of the silver reduction program is to provide education and technical assistance to photo and X-ray film processors to reduce silver entering the wastewater treatment system. Your cooperation in the silver reduction program is essential to prevent the need for more costly regulation. The District prefers to implement a program relying on the voluntary adoption of Best Management Practices (BMPs) to capture silver at the source, rather than permitting, monitoring and inspecting waste generators. The effective management of silver-bearing waste through the use of sound, BMP-based pretreatment practices can save time and money for photo and X-ray processors and Clean Water Services.

Why recover silver from photographic wastes?

Processing photographic film, x-ray, and photographic prints produces wastes containing high levels of silver. Silver is highly toxic to aquatic organisms. Photo processing waste may contain silver concentrations as high as 15,000 parts per million (ppm) before pre-treatment Wastes containing more than 5 ppm of silver are classified by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency as hazardous waste. Disposing of silver into the public sanitary sewer system wastes a valuable resource that can be conserved. Recovering silver from photo processing waste streams converts a potential source of pollution into a potential source of revenue. Recovered silver is marketable and can be profitable. Silver
recovery is beneficial to both photo processors and the environment.

Objectives of the Silver Pollution Prevention Program:

• Reduce silver coming into the public sanitary sewer system
• Minimize cost to industry and the District
• Improve silver recovery and resource conservation
• Avoid the need to issue costly monitoring-based permits

Clean Water Services Silver Recovery Certification Program

All photo finishers are visited and placed in one of four separate volume groups:

• For facilities discharging more than 100 gallons per month of waste silver-rich solution (fixer) into the sanitary sewer system, the recommendation is installation of electrolytic treatment followed by metallic replacement canisters (MRC’s).

• For facilities discharging between 21-100 gallons per month of waste fixer, the recommendation is pretreatment of the fixer waste with a minimum of either 2 MRCs or a single electrolytic recovery unit followed by one MRC.

• For facilities discharging between 5-20 gallons per month of waste fixer, the recommendation is pretreatment of the fixer waste with a minimum of either 2 MRCs or electrolytic recovery.

• For facilities discharging less than 5 gallons per month of fixer were encouraged to use off-site disposal by a recycler/hauler at a minimum. If the facility is using the minimum BMP method recommended for their fixer volume, they are awarded a window-affixable certificate (static decal).

Who can I call for technical assistance?

Clean Water Services staff members are available to provide information to you regarding installation and operation of an effective silver recovery system. Call Marney Jett, Source Control Investigator at (503) 681-5124.