Step 1: Transportation

Schedule transportation with your ProMed Recycling consultant for a free nationwide pickup of  x-ray films. Once received, weights of each box are tracked.

Step 2: Separation of film from paper jackets
X-ray films are separated from paper jackets, which are shredded to comply with HIPAA standards for patient privacy.  The paper is then recycled into a variety of environmentally-conscious usages.

Step 3: Grinding
Each lot of film is sent to grinders to be chopped into ½” particles.  At this point, the film itself becomes illegible, meeting HIPAA-compliancy once again for patient privacy. Lot samples are taken, and the lot is reweighed.

Step 4.  Washing
Film is washed  in an environmentally friendly, enzyme process to remove coatings and silver.

Step 5. Rinsing
The washed product is then rinsed, and the plastic (PET) is separated for further recycling into fabrics, carpets, etc.  The silver-bearing emulsion is sent for the settling and smelting process.

Step 6.   Settling and smelting
The silver-bearing emulsion is filtered, and impurities are removed through the smelting process. The resulting raw silver is poured into bars.

Step 7.  Rebate checks issued
Retrieval costs and perm-outs are paid to customers’ document management company, if applicable. Silver rebate checks are issued.