Recycling is a all inclusive term used to describe getting additional usage from all types of materials including x-ray film which was traditionally tossed until it was recognized that the materials it is made of are harmful for the environment. Finally, it was properly disposed of through recycling plants and waste facilities. Now disposal facilities are able to incorportate silver recovery from x-ray film.
Industrial Surplus Inc. use a chemical process to leach the silver bromide particles from each sheet of xray film in x-ray film recycling and they actively reach out to film owners in an attempt to increase their x-ray film recycling business. Because they offer great prices, they are likely to command a large portion of this business in Baltimore, MD. Approcimately one gram of silver is salvaged from each sheet, making recycling 300 to 400 pounds of film quite a profitable venture. Hospitals and dentistry's can recycle their old, outdated xray film. In addition to recycling it, it will be destroyed according to OSHA standards when it is sold to Industrial Surplus Inc. in Baltimore, MD. The company offers a full service to all who need destruction of x-rays to meet company guidelines for x-ray disposal.
Recovery companies leach the silver from x-ray using Sodium Thio-sulfate which forms Silver Thio-sulfate complex ions. Later the silver is extracted form the ions. There are several methods to extract the silver from the ions. The purity of the silver is enough to make quality items from the recylcled metal. This is also true of non-destructive testing film or NDT film as well as all x-rays including dental xray film.
A silver recycler extracts silver from several other sources, but x-ray have long been an excellent source of silver and extracting the silver from this source has not been as common as it should have been to date. Silver recovery from x-ray film is more common in Third World countries than in America. Recovery companies that do x-ray film recycling in addition to destroying x-rays are offering a dual benefit to the customers they service. Those recovery companies that help medical facilities dispose of old x-rays are doing the world a great service because they are keeping caustic chemicals from dumping grounds that leach dangerous chemicals into the ground.
X-ray recycling can be both profitable to a disposing agency such as a hospital in addition to meeting the disposal guidelines posed by the federal government. NDT film and dental xray film, etc. can be properly destroyed and a boost in the xray recycling world is made each time a silver recycler takes in a load of x-rays to dispose of and recycle. It is a excellent way to perform the proper destruction of x-ray film and to recycle a very useful metal which has recently gained more and more value on the open market.
