Dry Cleaners Going Green

This article was a breath of fresh air, literally. To find a local "green"' dry cleaner near you, contact the consumer group at the bottom of the article.


Dry Cleaners Going Green
From Philadelphia Inquirer 10/1/03
Working to remove a troubling solvent
By Tom Avril
Inquirer Staff Writer
The splitting headaches are a thing of the past for Philip Browne.
Peggy Myers' wool skirts don't have that funny smell anymore.
And a woman who has a skin condition will get her insurance company to pick
up her dry-cleaning bill.
The reason? Dry cleaners are going "green."
With the industry increasingly under fire for polluting the air and water, a
small but growing number of stores are abandoning the old chemicals in favor
of more earth-friendly alternatives.
Regulators say the chief villain is perchloroethylene, the solvent that
gives clothes that whiff of synthetic sweetness.
A suspected carcinogen at high doses, "perc" contributes to smog, a category
in which Philadelphia is a national leader. It also can contaminate
groundwater, a fact that has prompted state officials to provide bottled
water to Chester County residents in two recent cases.
Industry representatives defend perc as perfectly safe if used properly in
modern cleaning machines. And some say nothing works like perc to freshen up
that silk blouse.
Yet green cleaners are clearly gaining a foothold, with at least six
locations opening in the Delaware Valley during the last year. Supporters
say the alternative methods work just as well, citing a recent Consumer
Reports study.
"AsOrganic Consumers Association - 6771 South Silver Hill Drive, Finland MN 55603
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