Tuesday's article about a new, low-cost dry cleaner, CD One Price Cleaners, mentions that the Hopkins cleaner uses hydrocarbon-based cleaning solvents, not perchloroethylene (perc). Consumer's Checkbook, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington D.C., said that hydrocarbon-based cleaners are still not considered "green."
Checkbook said that studies show hydrocarbon cleans as well as perc does, but its VOCs can contribute to smog and produce hazardous waste that needs to be carefully controlled and captured.
Instead, it recommends considering the following methods for greener cleaning: liquid carbon dioxide has little environmental impact—the carbon dioxide itself is recycled from other industrial uses. But few shops have adopted this method.
"A silicone-based solvent marketed under the name "GreenEarth" is a modified liquid silicone—a clear and odorless liquid— but there have been recent health concerns over the use of the silicone-based solution. Preliminary research studies found that exposure to high levels of D5—the solvent used in GreenEarth's process—caused cancer and may have caused liver damage in laboratory rats. Industry groups have insisted that their own research shows these results are specific to rats, and that other tests show that D5 is safe to humans," Checkbook said.
"Wet-cleaning, a non-toxic, water-based cleaning method uses a high-tech washing machine that works in conjunction with stretching devices that help retain garments' sizes and shapes. Results of tests comparing the effectiveness of wet cleaning to the perc-based method have been mixed. In tests conducted by the EPA, participants rated wet-cleaned clothes as high as, or higher than, dry-cleaned clothes. But Consumer Reports' tests found that the wet-cleaning method shrank several sample dry-clean-only garments, and Consumer Reports suggests that only clothes labeled as "hand-wash only" be wet-cleaned," according to Checkbook.
To find a list of Twin Cities area dry cleaners that offer liquid carbon dioxide, silicone or wet cleaning, I went to Nodryclean.com. Here are the local greener cleaners listed, although it appears that no TC area cleaners are offering liquid CO2 yet. If there are other green cleaners not listed here, let me know (jewoldt@startribune.com).
1) Uptown Cleaners
1614 Lake St
Minneapolis, MN 55408
ph:612-822-6855
Offers Silicone Cleaning
