What the legislation says
22 (1) Recovery, at any premises, of silver from waste produced in connection with printing or photographic processing if no more than 50,000 litres of such waste are dealt with on those premises in any day.
22 (2) Storage, at those premises, of waste which is to be submitted to such a recovery operation.
What this means
Paragraph 22 (1) allows silver to be recovered from up to 50,000 litres of non-hazardous printing and photographic wastes per day.
Paragraph 22 (2) allows the storage of the non-hazardous processing and photographic wastes prior to recovery processes.
Questions and answers
We have provided the following questions and answers to help you understand if this exemption includes the type of activity that you wish to undertake.
Paragraph 22 (1)
Q. What can I do?
A. You can recover silver from up to 50,000 litres of non-hazardous printing and photographic wastes per day.
Q. Who can do it?
A. Any company, organisation or individual that registers with us an activity that is exempt under Paragraph 22. By individuals we mean those acting in a business capacity, such as a sole trader. The law does not require an individual acting in a personal capacity to register an exemption.
Q Where can I do it?
A. At a place or places that you identify when you register the exemption.
Q. How do I know if my printing and photographic wastes are hazardous or non hazardous?
A. If you are unsure you will need to check this out before you notify us of this exemption.
Paragraph 22 (2)
Q. What can I store?
A. You can store non-hazardous printing and photographic wastes prior to recovery of silver from these wastes.
Q. Where can I store it?
A. Only at the place where the silver recovery is to be undertaken.
Example of an activity which is suitable for registration under the Paragraph 22 (1) (2) exemption:
- A company takes photographic film which it processes to extract the silver and produce ingots.
The activity can be registered as a Paragraph 22 exemption.
Examples of activities which are not suitable for registration under the Paragraph 22 (1) (2) exemption:
- A company incinerates medical x-ray films in order to extract the silver.
The extraction of silver from the incineration of medical x-rays would not be covered by the paragraph 22 exemption as incineration would require a permit under other legislation. You would need to contact us to discuss what authorisation you need before you begin.
- A company takes hazardous developing solutions which it processes to extract the silver and produce ingots.
The exemption does not cover the recovery of hazardous wastes which is likely to require a waste management licence.
