May 2004

Cruise Ship Industry Follows Navy's Recycling Program
Itronics, Inc. Introduces Beneficial Use Photochemical, Silver and Water Recycling

Reno, NV— Itronics Inc. announced that its Beneficial Use Photochemical, Silver, and Water Recycling Program, which is being used successfully by the U.S. Navy, is being offered to the cruise ship industry.

“Shipboard photo labs are busy places. Everyone on a cruise ships takes pictures and the convenience of having your film or digital photos printed within 24 hours while still on board is practically irresistible. The busier the lab, the larger the volume of silver-bearing, used photochemical liquids that is generated. These silver-bearing photochemical liquids are classified as hazardous waste by the U.S. EPA and their disposal is tightly regulated by the United States and many other countries. Disposal of these liquids is one of the regulatory concerns that the cruise lines face,” said Dr. John Whitney, Itronics President.

“Shipboard photo labs can now utilize the same photochemical, silver, and water recycling technology used by the U.S. Navy to convert used silver-bearing photochemical liquids to pure water and non-hazardous photochemical silver concentrates. Itronics Metallurgical, Inc. offers a complete, environmentally friendly, program in which 80 percent of the water is removed for re-use on board ship to make up new photochemicals. The concentrates are shipped to Itronics Metallurgical’s recycling/fertilizer manufacturing plant in Reno, Nevada for silver recovery, and for recycling of the demetallized concentrates into our high quality multinutrient liquid fertilizers, sold under the GOLD’n GRO label,” Dr. Whitney said.

“We understand that waste reduction and control is a major concern for the cruise ship industry. With new regulations being proposed covering waste disposal for cruise ships, our Beneficial Use Photochemical, Silver, and Water Recycling Program is a step in the right direction by eliminating this category of shipboard generated hazardous waste,” Itronics President said.