废旧CT片能高价回收？紧急提醒
双语君约 5 分钟Discarded medical imaging films have become a hot commodity in recent days, with some buyers offering 1.5 yuan per film. On secondhand trading platforms, CT scans and X-ray films containing patients’ skeletal and organ images are being acquired in large quantities. What kind of profit chain lies behind this practice? And how should the public properly dispose of their used medical films?
A review by reporters on social media and secondhand trading platforms has uncovered widespread listings for the purchase of medical imaging films. Most such postings advertise "high-price on-site collection", with some also branding the service as "green recycling" or "environmentally friendly disposal". On social platforms, recyclers use industry slang to categorize films by their silver content into three types: gray film, blue film and green film.
Journalists contacted several recyclers posing as sellers with large quantities of films for sale. All confirmed they offer bulk recycling, priced by the kilogram and varying by film type. "Gray film goes for 83 yuan per kilogram, green 52 yuan, and blue45 yuan," one recycler said.
So what ultimately happens to these recovered medical films? Several recyclers have admitted to extracting silver by incinerating the films themselves. A review of short-video platforms shows numerous content creators sharing step-by-step guides to "silver extraction from CT films", demonstrating processes including incineration and acid washing, with some even claiming the method can be carried out at home.
According to Lin Yangxuan, early-generation CT films do contain silver at a concentration of 1.5 percent to 2 percent.
"Coated with silver halide, the films lose most of this compound into the developer during the developing and fixing processes, leaving only around 0.75 percent on the finished film. Combined with technological constraints in current extraction methods, the actual amount of silver recoverable is minimal."
Crucially, the unregulated, crude methods used to extract silver pose severe environmental hazards, a stark contradiction to the "green recycling" promoted by these collectors.
Nowadays, a new generation of dry thermal medical imaging films has grown increasingly mainstream. Containing no silver salts whatsoever, these films form images directly via thermal imaging technology. Environmentally friendly and highly efficient, they allow instant printing without the need for chemical developing solutions.
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