Kodak wanted
to demonstrate that an innovative regulatory option
to reduce silver discharges from photoprocessing facilities
could achieve environmental goals more effectively and
efficiently than traditional regulatory approaches,
delivering cost savings and simplifying municipal pretreatment
program administration.
Kodak worked with The Silver Council,
the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies, the
U.S. EPA, and others to develop a best management practices
approach to maximizing the recovery of silver and minimizing
its release to the environment by recommending specific
technologies, equipment, and management practices for
controlling silver discharges. In 1995, the results
of this collaboration produced the Code of Management
Practice (CMP) for Silver Dischargers. Pollution prevention
recommendations for facilities to minimize wastes and
conserve water were also a key part of the CMP.
Both customers and regulatory authorities
have experienced the benefits of the CMP. Municipalities
can now implement the CMP as a legally authorized and
fully enforceable element of their industrial wastewater
pretreatment program, or as a voluntary program. Either
approach provides a cost-effective alternative to traditional
numerical discharge limits for silver and results in
consistent and significantly improved silver recovery.
The photographic industrys customers now have
cost-saving tools for recycling a non-renewable natural
resource (silver), conserving water, and ensuring environmental
protection.

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