There are a lot of people looking at alternative cleaning solutions and products in nearly all cleaning industries, including the dry cleaning business. Dry Cleaning has been around for a long time and over the history of dry cleaning products there have been some very harsh chemicals used, and still are today. Not only are people investigating the usage and handling of the chemical products used by dry cleaners, they are also looking into the physical side effects of the chemicals on people.
This side of the dry cleaning business is not talked about too often. Most people tend to see the dry cleaners as an alternative to doing their own cleaning, or in some cases for certain clothing, the only way to clean them. So, to the general public, they don’t really care or want to know what goes on behind the scenes.
One of the most used chemicals in todays modern dry cleaners is Perchloroethylene. This chemical is refereed to by many names, such as tetrachloroethylene or PCE, but the most common term used is perc. Perc, or Perchloroethylene is one of the most effective cleaning agents if used properly, however it can also be very dangerous to humans if mis-handled. The use and handling of perc in a dry cleaners is very strict and regulated in most areas. Also, the dry cleaning machines used today are mostly sealed systems that recycle the Perchloroethylene and do not allow for fumes or the chemical to escape from the system.
Perchloroethylene is a toxic chemical and must be handled accordingly, it is believed to cause menstrual problems in women and pregnancy issues with women who work closely with the chemical in a dry cleaner business or industry. Perc residue is harmful to the environment and can seep into drinking water and the water table if discarded inappropriately. Perc has been name a probably carcinogen, however because it is not officially designated as a harmful carcinogen the handling restrictions are not as tight as I think they should be.
The harmful attributes of Perc are real and people are beginning to look and use alternative dry cleaning chemicals and processes in order to avoid the use of this common chemical. The reason that Perc is still in use today, despite it’s harmful characteristics is because it is cheap and made in large quantities. So, switching to alternatives such as hydrocarbon solvents, liquid carbon dioxide and other cleaning methods such as wet cleaning actually cost the dry cleaners more to use. As a cost saving measure and profit margin for the regular dry cleaner owner, they will usually opt for the Perchloroethylene cleaning solutions. Only those that have either been affected by the side effects, or suspect they have or have an environmental desire to use alternative solutions are the minority in the dry cleaning industry today.
Green cleaning is a fairly new concept as well, and with any wide spread industry and supply chain system it does take a lot of time to change. Changing to greener, healthier and safer products ( that currently cost more ) is a tough sell. But I do encourage people to consider and look for the alternatives. Larger metropolitan areas are more likely to have alternative dry cleaners then smaller, rural areas. Again, perc is still used in almost 90% of dry cleaners throughout North America, so finding the one out of ten dry cleaners that uses safer, greener chemicals might take a little bit of work.
Upgraded and new generation dry cleaning machines are actually better then I am making them out to be. Most take into consideration the harmful effects and toxicity of perc and use a sealed, recycling system within the machine itself. The dry cleaning machine traps all fumes and chemicals internally, cleans, stores and re-uses the cleaning solvents. Special processes have been developed for handling and disposal of used chemicals as well. These machines have little to no environmental effect and are probably the only machines I would trust working with or using as a customer.
You do have some alternatives to dry cleaning right at home. There are products available now that are dry cleaner kits for home use. These kits do work in most cases with lightly soiled and regular cleaning of dry clean only garments. They are not effective for set in stains and heavy dirt or chemical cleaning. Most dry cleaning attendants have some experience with stains and special cleaning requirements for different types of dirt, stains, chemical spills and more. However, for everyday use, the home use dry cleaning kits do not use any of the harmful chemicals and do a decent job.
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