The Wall Street Journal recently did an article, The New Dirt on Dry Cleaners.  The article spoke of how many dry cleaners will be required to move from perchloroethylene (Perc), as a cleaning agent, by 2020 to other solvents.  “The Environmental Protection Agency has classified perc as a toxic air pollutant and potential human carcinogen.  While the EPA mandated that cleaning businesses located in residential buildings phase out perc by the end of 2020, some states including California, Illinois, and New Jersey, have sought to end its use sooner and more broadly.” 

With that said, some dry cleaners are providing earth-friendly dry cleaning services such as P&G Tide Dry Cleaners in the Midwest.  With new advances to more earth-friendly services it’s likely dry cleaning prices will rise.  At this point in time 80% of cleaners are still relying on good ole perc.  Due to already high prices in the industry many consumers are checking care tags for the forbidden words of Dry-Clean-Only before purchasing garments.  However, the US Census Bureau reports that in the US there is a total of “24,124 dry-cleaning and non-coin-operated laundry establishments.”  I think it’s safe to say dry cleaning isn’t going away anytime soon. 

So you’re probably wondering what are the new solvents being used and do they work.   The Wall Street says, ”About 60 dry cleaners in the US use SystemK4, a new dry-cleaning solution made by Kreussler Inc.   Alex Shvartshteyn, owner of London Cleaners in Cleveland, switched from GreenEarth to SystemK4 earlier this year and prefers the latter.  Kreussler wouldn’t disclose the chemical make-up of SystemK4, but he says the product leaves clothes softer and fresher-smelling than perc.”   That alone is a big improvement considering my prior experiences with dry cleaning.

The latest issue of All You had a great article on dry cleaning and the use of perchlorolethylene (perc).  We have written on perc in the past but when I saw this article I thought it would be a good refresher to those who are aware of the hazards of perc and to give important facts to those who may be unaware.

In The Closet – Zero in on perchloroethylene by All You

Found in Dry cleaning

What it is   Perchlorethylene is the most common dry-cleaning solvent.  It cleans delicate fabrics without shrinking or fading, and it’s inexpensive because it can be recovered and recycled after cleaning.  Approximately 85 percent of dry cleaners in the United States use perc.

Health Concerns  Studies show that inhaling high levels of perc can cause liver cancer, kindey  damage and memory loss.  Employees of dry-cleaning businesses, as well as people who live in the same building as a dry cleaner, are at highest risk.  Regulations from the EPA call for a partial ban on perc by 2021, but only for dry cleaners using perc in residential buildings.  The EPA is considering banning perc altogether.  Some states aren’t waiting.  California, for example, has ordered perc to be phased out completely by 2023.

Stay Safe  Notice how your dry-cleaned clothes smell.  A chemical smell is a clue that perc was used.  Dry cleaners are supposed to remove perc as a part of the cleaning process, but the does not always happen.  To reduce perc exposure, tear of the plastic covers and air out dry-cleaned clothes before stashing them in your closet.  Also ask at your dry cleaner if they use perc.  Increasingly, many establishments are switching to greener methods, but those techniques can be pricier.  The best safeguards:  Don’t dry-clean items as often and avoid buying new clothes that require dry cleaning. 

What was not not mentioned in the article is the use of WOOLITE® Dry Cleaner’s Secret® instead of the dry cleaner.  To extend the time between professional dry cleanings use WOOLITE® Dry Cleaner’s Secret® as a safe non-toxic alternative to using the dry cleaner.   WOOLITE® Dry Cleaner’s Secret® won’t only protect you but it will protect your clothing from harsh chemicals too.  Plus, think about the money you’ll save.

Dry cleaning is losing a couple popularity contests — our waning economy can’t afford it, and our critical environment wants no part of it. Skyrocketing gas prices are causing Americans to put a hold on some of life’s luxuries (such as having other people wash your delicates), while the country’s skyrocketing environmental conscience is steering us further from energy-inefficient and toxic processes (such as having other people wash your delicates in mondo machines with harmful chemicals). These are the two most apparent reasons why professional dry cleaning is on the decline, and cheaper, greener alternatives are beginning to take their place.

In Cathleen Jeffrey’s blog, “Let’s Talk Money…,”I read about the decline of business at the local dry cleaner in the small town of Hull, Massachusetts. The owner of Family Ties Dry Cleaners admits that business has been at the slowest its ever been, and she believes it has all to do with the rising gas prices. Here’s a video that Cathleen put together:

In a separate article from STLToday.com, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch online, about how the economy is affecting the household budget, one reader commented about how her family has begun to line-dry more their laundry in order to save energy and money.

A separate, but not-too-disconnected issue that also affects Americans’ dry cleaning habits is its environmental ramifications. With the environment and sustainability brought to the forefront with rising gas prices and a push to find a cleaner, more plentiful source of energy (not to mention a desire to patch that gaping hole in our ozone layer), people are becoming more environmentally conscious. That said, and considering the fact that professional dry cleaning is far from enviro-friendly, the industry is taking a hit. Aside from the huge amounts of energy it takes to keep a dry cleaning plant up and running, the cleaning agent used to wash the clothes — perchloroethylene — is a soil contaminant and a central nervous system depressant, and therefore dangerous not only to the environment, but to also to people in direct contact with it.

In response to the hard times, and in the spirit of greener times, alternative dry cleaning methods are gaining in popularity. They’re more inexpensive, more environmentally friendly and more easily accessible than professional dry cleaning. Products like ours, Woolite® Dry Clean At Home by Dry Cleaner’s Secret, may be the solution for homemakers with a mortgage, a gas bill, and an environmental agenda.

As you might have assumed, we’re not proponents for professional dry cleaners. So, while searching the Web for other anti-dry cleaner sites, we came across this great article from SmartMoney.com that outlines the 10 things that your dry cleaner won’t tell you. Here are some short excerpts from each:

1. “We’ll take the shirt off your back—and not give it back.”
Winter is nearly over, and you’re itching to swap your wool for shorts and T-shirts. But before you send those sweaters to your dry cleaner, realize this: You may never see them again. Dry cleaners have a knack for losing your stuff. According to the Council of Better Business Bureaus, lost items are one of the top three complaints consumers log against dry cleaners. (Damaged garments and stains are the other two.)

2. “You won’t get much from us if we ruin your sweater.”
At least if a cleaner loses your item, he’s supposed to pay the full amount so you can get a new one. But say your blazer comes back with a slash in one arm. You’d want it replaced, right? Well, that doesn’t wash with dry cleaners. For damaged goods, the industry standard is to offer the item’s depreciated value as listed in the Fair Claims Guide, published by the International Fabricare Institute (IFI), the Silver Spring, Md., association representing 6,000 owners of dry cleaning businesses. Problem is, you won’t get much.

3. “Good luck proving the damage was our fault.”
In cases where you and your cleaner can’t agree on who’s at fault for damaging an item, the cleaner will probably suggest this solution: send the item to the IFI, which will analyze it and then determine who’s to blame for the damages. Trouble is, it’s unlikely your cleaner will be found at fault.

4. “We clean your clothes with killer chemicals.”
In the past 10 years, the number of dry cleaning operations in the U.S. has grown by nearly 50 percent, to more than 30,000 businesses. That’s great news if you like convenience, but not if you worry about the environment. PERC (short for perchloroethylene) is the chemical used to dry-clean your clothes, and this toxic substance is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a probable human carcinogen. In fact, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that dry cleaning workers they studied over a 36-year period were 25 percent more likely to die from cancer than the general population.

5. “We could help the environment—but why bother?”
It may defy logic, but water can be used to clean dry-clean-only clothing. The process, though, is hardly catching on—there are only about 10 wet cleaning facilities in the country. “Cost is an issue,” says the IFI’s Jon Meijer. “Wet cleaning requires far more labor, and you tend to need a lot more space.” Meijer adds that wet cleaning is effective on only 40 percent of clothing. But the EPA’s Stroup classifies such claims as “baloney.” She contends that “virtually everything that can be dry-cleaned can be wet-cleaned.”

6. “We’re masters of the bait-and-switch routine.”
The sign on a Dallas dry cleaner’s window caught Eric Kaindl’s eye: Laundered shirts—79 cents. But Kaindl got the real eye-opener when he picked up the three shirts he had dropped off. The cleaner charged him $1.50 a shirt. Why the price hike? Because they were his uniform shirts for work, even though the sign didn’t spell out any such exceptions. “They just said, if you want your shirts, this is what you’ve got to pay for them,” says Kaindl.

7. “We take new brides to the cleaners.”
Your daughter is going down the aisle soon? Watch out. Jonathan Scheer, a gown preservationist in New York City, says too often clients ask him to restore wedding dresses that have been damaged when dry-cleaned. Unfortunately, he can’t always save the keepsake.

8. “Ladies get special treatment: We charge them more.”
Wedding gowns aren’t the only items with which dry cleaners starch women. In a sampling of New York City cleaners, we found cases where dry-cleaning a woman’s shirt costs twice as much as for a man’s shirt. “Gender-pricing has been going on for years,” says the BBB’s Berry. Even when a woman brings in the same type of garment as a man (say, an Oxford shirt), she’s often charged more.

9. “Our customer service stinks.”
In 2001 the Better Business Bureau logged 4,451 complaints against the dry cleaning industry, making it the 21st-worst offender among the 1,000 businesses for which the BBB tracks complaints. That’s a 10.6 percent increase from the previous year’s 4,024 complaints. There’s an even bigger wrinkle: When it comes to resolving a complaint in good faith or to the customer’s satisfaction, dry cleaners have an unusually low settlement rate—34.6 percent compared with 66 percent for all other businesses. “It’s not the initial problem but the lack of follow-through to solve the problem that spurs people to file complaints,” says Jeannette Kopko, a senior vice president of the BBB serving Dallas and northeast Texas.

10. “We ignore what the courts tell us to do.”
As Lenore McIntyre discovered, there’s no guarantee small claims court will clean up your dry cleaner’s mess. Even if the judge rules in your favor, it can be difficult for you to get your money. For dry cleaners who fail to pay voluntarily, as in McIntyre’s case, you can either have a law enforcement official go to the cleaner to get your money or directly withdraw it from a cleaner’s bank account. But getting a withdrawal can be tricky. Tom Gallagher, president and CEO of the BBB of Central Virginia, says many dry cleaners operate under a number of names. “It could be that the dry cleaner buys another dry cleaning shop that has a good reputation and they want to maintain loyalty,” he says. For whatever reason, it often means cleaners have bank accounts under other names, making it even more difficult for you to claim your money.

So, if you can look past the magical 1-800 PSYCHIC feel of the video, and ignore the occasional sales pitch, this video from ZIPS Dry Cleaning offers some great tips about getting rid of starch buildup, ring around the collar and underarm stains.

Ever wonder what dry cleaners used before the toxic perchloroethylene? Well, believe it or not, they used something much more dangerous (and much more obviously so). Pre-1930s dry cleaners used petroleum-based solvents that resulted in many fires. Dry cleaning plants were so dangerous then that the government stepped in to regulate them. Here’s a safety video from the 1930s, along with the info from the YouTube page.

This clip was taken from the film, More Dangerous Than Dynamite, produced and by the California State Fire Marshall in the 1930s. Early dry cleaners used petroleum-based solvents, such as gasoline and kerosene. The use of highly flammable petroleum solvents caused many fires and explosions, resulting in government regulation of dry cleaners.
By the mid-1930s most dry cleaners had substituted perchloroethylene, (commonly called “perc,”) for gasoline as the ideal solvent. Perc is stable and nonflammable. However, it is highly toxic to both dry cleaning workers and the environment and is a cancer causing chemical. In the 1990s the dry cleaning industry begin to replace perc with less toxic chemicals, including water-based methods. For more information on less toxic alternatives, go to the EPA’s Design for the Environment Garment and Textile Care Partnership at http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/… . This Partnership promotes environmentally safer technologies for garment and textile cleaning. This program was developed by involving representatives from EPA and stakeholders from industry, labor, community action and environmental groups, trade associations, and research organizations.

While searching the term “dry cleaning” today, we came across a new dry cleaning service that seems to set itself apart from other professional dry cleaners. OXXO Cleaners not only makes an effort to stay environmentally friendly by steering clear of perchloroethylene, but they’ve re-defined convenience. Their 24/7 ATM-style pickup and drop off stations make it so you don’t have to rush to the cleaners before they close.

We believe it’s a national chain, but most locations appear to be only on the east coast.

Shopping for laundry and dry cleaning alternatives can get confusing sometimes. Every chemical name sounds the same! Luckily, we found a handy-dandy wallet sized resource card that you can keep on you at all times! The wonderful people over at Co-op America have posted a pdf file of their Dry Cleaning Alternatives card on their website, or you can click here to download it. Here’s a screen shot:

We stumbled upon yet another green alternative to bringing your clothes to the dry cleaner: The Corby 4400 Automatic Pants Press! It doesn’t clean stains or even spots, but it’s a great way to press your delicates when you want to save some cash, and stay eco-friendly while you’re at it.

Some of the highlights:

• It’ll press your pants in 15 minutes.
• Features an exclusive stretcher bar system that gently eases out wrinkles from the backs of knees; a sprung section at the base ensures a constant, even pressing of cuffs and hems; and thermostatically controlled heat to relax the fabric.
• When the 15- or 30-minute cycle is complete, it turns off automatically; and there’s a manual cancel option.

Of course, when it comes to cleaning small spots of stains off of your delicates, don’t run to the dry cleaner just yet—Dry Cleaner’s Secret will get the job done. Try tossing your suit or other delicates in the dryer with a Dry Cleaner’s Secret cleaning cloth, follow all the direction, and freshen your clothes up before you press them with the Corby Automatic.

Take that, dry cleaners!

Back in 2005, two students from the National University of Singapore’s School of Industrial Design, Gabriel Tan and Wendy Chua, developed a washing machine that doesn’t use water or detergent. The Airwash removes stains from clothing in minutes by using negative ions, compressed air and deodorants. It won the ElectroLux Design Lab Award that year because of its potential to replace professional dry-cleaning.

Other upsides of the technology are that is uses very little energy and it provides a laundry solution for places that do no have readily accessible, clean water.

The downsides? It’s 2008. Where’d it go? Until it resurfaces, your best (and undoubtedly less expensive) option to avoid having to bring your non-washables to the dry cleaner is Dry Cleaner’s Secret.