X-Ray Film & Spent Fixer
Hold it to a light — a dense blue-grey/black sheet you cannot see through is silver; a coloured transparent dye-image sheet has none. Colour means no silver, every time.
How to spot it
Medical x-ray film is 35 × 43 cm or 24 × 30 cm blue-grey polyester sheets, often in paper jackets with patient names, boxed in hospital basements and dental or vet practices. NDT film is smaller (10 × 24 cm, 10 × 40 cm), very dense, in lead-foil-lined packets from weld and casting inspection. B&W negatives are silver-grey on acetate or polyester; colour negatives carry an orange base mask. Fixer is a clear-to-straw liquid in 5–20 L cubitainers smelling of acetic acid or ammonia.
Metal content
| Metal | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Silver | 0.07–0.10 ozt/lb (2.2–3.1 g/lb) medical film | CRE publishes 0.025 ozt/lb spot-pay basis vs ~0.09 ozt/lb refining basis — the gap is the whole story |
| Silver | 0.15–0.25 ozt/lb industrial NDT film | Double-coated fine-grain, typically 1.5–3× medical; unexposed film is richest |
| Silver | 1–6 g/L in spent fixer | X-ray processors run 3–6 g/L; $7–43 per US gallon contained |
At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $4.94 per pound of contained metal — Silver 2.6 g = $4.94. A refiner paying $4 returns about 81% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.
Safe removal
Working temperature: No heat; nitrate film self-ignites above ~38 °C when degraded
Do not process film yourself — the published routes (NaOH/Na2S leach, enzyme stripping, incineration) are slow, smelly or produce H2S. Bale it and ship it: refiners want it stripped of jackets, dry and free of paper. For fixer, the correct technology is an electrolytic recovery cell plating out 90–95% of the silver, or cruder steel-wool replacement cartridges at ~90% capture that refiners discount heavily. Never put fixer down a drain.
Hazards
NEVER open, cut, heat, drill, drop, shred or sell an inflator. There is no recoverable metal in one — the initiator's gold is measured in micrograms. Deploy-in-place by a trained handler, or hand it to the OEM collection stream.
NEVER pour any of these down a drain or onto the ground. They are all regulated waste streams.
NEVER dry sweep or use compressed air on a scrapping bench. HEPA-vac or wet-wipe only.
The practical answer for nearly everyone: sort, concentrate, and sell to a licensed refiner. A good refiner recovers 85–98%, assays rather than guesses, pays on the assay, and takes the waste liability. Your edge as a scrapper is identification and sorting — not chemistry.
Before you scrap it
The common trap
Questions
How much gold is in x-ray film & spent fixer?
Silver: 0.07–0.10 ozt/lb (2.2–3.1 g/lb) medical film. Silver: 0.15–0.25 ozt/lb industrial NDT film. Silver: 1–6 g/L in spent fixer. At current spot that is about $4.94 of contained metal per pound.
How do you identify x-ray film & spent fixer?
Hold it to a light — a dense blue-grey/black sheet you cannot see through is silver; a coloured transparent dye-image sheet has none. Colour means no silver, every time.
How do you remove x-ray film & spent fixer safely?
Do not process film yourself — the published routes (NaOH/Na2S leach, enzyme stripping, incineration) are slow, smelly or produce H2S. Bale it and ship it: refiners want it stripped of jackets, dry and free of paper. For fixer, the correct technology is an electrolytic recovery cell plating out 90–95% of the silver, or cruder steel-wool replacement cartridges at ~90% capture that refiners discount heavily. Never put fixer down a drain.
Is x-ray film & spent fixer worth more working than as scrap?
Mostly N/A, with two live exceptions: unexposed in-date or recently-expired film is worth 10–100× its silver to analogue photographers, with discontinued emulsions at $40–400 per box, and the darkroom equipment beside the film is invariably worth more than every silver-bearing item in the room. Economic above ~500 lb; below ~100 lb pallet freight eats the payout.
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