Lots of customers always ask me if they can throw away film (35mm 120/220, 8MM, 16MM, etc) in their trash bins at home or if there was a proper way to dispose of the film. You can just throw color film, black and white film in your trash bin at home. Once the film has been processed there really isn’t that much toxic materials on your film. B/W and color film does contain small amounts of silver in the material after its been processed but the amount is too little to worry about. Some of the silver has been removed while it was being processed in a lab.Certainly no worse than normal household cleaners, paints, etc.
Disposal of Film.
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Is Film Photography Sustainable? – The Photography Professor
[…] checking with your local municipalities using the website Earth911.com to make sure. However, most experts will just ask you to put developed negatives into the the trash can since developed film doesn’t […]
Mary Tenoever
But what about UNDEVELOPED film? It was shot but NEVER developed. You and others only address throwing out developed film. I need to know about UNDEVELOPED film.
Thank you.
Alex
True you can be irresponsible and throw them in the trash. Or you can recycle responsibly. And save your kids and grandchildren from having more pollutants to clear up after you. The Plastic is going to be around slowly degrading for many years to come. It’s already in the fish and meat we eat. So be responsible Please.
Robert Longo
I have 16mm developed film on metal reels left to me when my Father passed. The films are in metal cans, some as large as 1000-foot reels. I can no longer store the films. How can I dispose of these films?