The process of dry cleaning includes processing clothes by using a liquid solvent to eliminate soil & stains. The method of using chemicals rather than water to clean clothes started by the Romans, who utilized ammonia extracted from urine for cleaning woolen garments.
The dry cleaning process progressed through the centuries until the 1930s, once a chlorine-based solvent such as perchloroethylene turned into the leading way to clean clothes in the absence of water.
Most of the dry cleaners, almost 80 percent, use perchloroethylene or “perc” nowadays. However, the Environmental Protection Agency of the US considers this solvent both well-being and environmental danger.
The Environmental Protection Agency in the 1990s started to control dry cleaning elements and boost commercial cleaners to consider eco-friendly and safe solvents. This achievement created the term Green Dry Cleaning.
Table of Contents
What is perc?
PERC is a colorless liquid, and several traditional dry cleaners use it to clean clothes. Perc is also called tetrachloroethylene.
Uses of perc
Perc is used as a solvent by several traditional dry cleaners and a fabric finisher. Other applications of perc are:
- Shoe polish
- Printer ink
- Domestic cleaning supplies
- Paint
- Glues
- Spot removers
- Typewriter correction liquid
Is perc toxic?
In 2008, perc was found to be a possible carcinogen for humans via the National Academy of Sciences; it means that it can cause cancer. Additionally, in 2000, perc was found to be a toxic substance by the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
Perc is toxic, which means it may have long term detrimental effects on our environment & may threaten human life. Being exposed to perc can create several symptoms.
The temporary side effects of perc are:
- Dizziness
- Headaches
- Lethargy
- Respiratory annoyance
- Eye irritation
- Vomiting
- Loss of synchronization
- Irritation, swelling, redness, and chapping when it contacts with your skin
Long-lasting exposure of perc can interrupt the following parts:
- Your memory
- Your visualization
- Your temperament
- Your attention duration
- Your reaction period
If your dry cleaner is using perc, or you live close to dry cleaners using it, it means you can be at risk of being exposed to it. This can occur in the following ways:
Inhalation: When you inhale perc by chemical releases from garments that have been washed by using it, or from chemicals having perc, or from air polluted with perc.
Ingestion: Drinking water contaminated with perc.
Absorption: When you wear clothes washed with perc, or if it is in your shower water, or come into contact with chemicals containing perc, then you are at risk of getting perc which is harmful to you.
Is perc harmful to the environment?
Yes, perc can be dangerous for our environment, and it needs to be controlled as an unsafe waste. Perc is corrosive to eat through several materials, & can quickly pollute groundwater. This can cause serious health problems for people living in that area.
Eco-friendly dry cleaning
Eco-friendly dry cleaning does not involve the use of water. The majority of the dry cleaners clean your clothes by using a very toxic solvent, and the administration calls it a dangerous air pollutant. It is known as perc or perchloroethylene, and a lot of dry cleaners using it all over the world.
Dry cleaners use perc as it is beneficial. Perc is a toxic air pollutant; it means that it can cause cancer and severe health issues. In short, concentrated explosions of perc or perchloroethylene can cause dizziness, loss of consciousness, and headaches.
Are eco-friendly dry cleaners safe?
Most of the dry cleaners use a solvent that is a toxin and truly got the label: EPA recently estimated perc, a possible pollutant when inhaled, that makes it unsafe for employees of & those who are living in the same place as a dry cleaner.
The majority of the eco-friendly dry cleaners utilize Green Earth Cleaning, which is presented to be environmentally safe, even though it is not organic. But it is safe as compared to perc, and it has D5, a constituent associated with stomach cancer in rats.
However, dry cleaning should not be your only choice. What you should look for, say experts at the Pollution Prevention Institute in New York, is wet cleaning.
Unlike cleaning clothes by using a traditional machine, in professional wet cleaning, we use water along with eco-friendly cleanser; thus, pure water particles never engross into fibers. However, some people say it can shrink organized clothes, the EPA calls wet cleaning is a biologically superior technology to dry cleaning.
What is green dry cleaning?
It refers to another dry cleaning process that does not include the use of perc or perchloroethylene. One process is wet cleaning; it is a gentle form of home dry-cleaning. Three additional green cleaning approaches follow the model of traditional solvent but use CO2, silicon, and hydrocarbon-based cleaners rather than perc.
But, of the four kinds of alternative cleaning presented in the US, only two are deliberated safe for our environment and customers. They are liquid CO2 cleaning & wet cleaning methods. If you are seeking the eco-friendly cleaning, then ask your dry cleaner which of the procedures is utilized in their cleaning method.
Procedures used by eco-friendly dry cleaners
1- Liquid CO2 cleaning
This method of cleaning uses liquid carbon dioxide as a solvent together with detergent. This liquid carbon dioxide is made by placing the non-toxic gas under high pressure. It is non-toxic & is used to offer carbonation to soft drinks.
Garments are placed in dry cleaning machines & the ambient air is drawn. Then the cleaning drum is inoculated with CO2 in gas as well as liquid form. Once the clothes are washed, then the liquid carbon dioxide is driven back into a stocking container for reuse.
Perhaps, this process is the eco-friendliest as the carbon dioxide is taken as a by-product of current industrial methods. Meanwhile, less than three percent of carbon dioxide used is gone into the air by each load of the outfit; its influence on global warming is negligible.
This method uses less energy as compared to traditional dry cleaning as there we do not heat this solvent. Whereas CO2 is cheap and naturally occurring, each dry cleaning machine has a price of $40,000 that makes it cost-prohibitive for several small businesses.
2- Wet Cleaning
In this method, we use water along with specialized cleaners that are milder rather than home-based laundry products to wash garments. Wet cleaners have electronic washers, dryers, & specialized steaming, pressing, and finishing gear to help your outfits look their best.
This is the non-toxic, professional cleaning process as there is no dangerous chemical, no harmful waste creation, no air contamination, and there is no soil and water contamination. Additional care is done before & after cleaning in this method.
3- Silicon-based solvent
The majority of the cleaners utilize the GreenEarth cleaning way to replace perchloroethylene. GreenEarth is liquified sand. It is also known as SiO2. It works as a solvent known as siloxane. Siloxane is like base materials used in deodorant as well as shaving creams. Once GreenEarth is thrown away, then it breaks into sand, CO2, and water.
In this method, no chemicals will touch your garments. But, the producer of siloxane utilizes chlorine, which emits carcinogenic dioxin while manufacturing methods.
4- Hydrocarbon-based solvent
A lot of cleaners encourage themselves by using DF-2000 or organic solvent. This is a hydrocarbon-based solvent that must be produced from petroleum. Manufacturing of these chemicals increases environmental problems, especially over greenhouse gases.
How to get the best outcomes by eco-friendly dry cleaners?
There are some things you can do to help the successful cleaning of your clothes.
- Let the experts do the job. Do not try to eradicate stains by yourself. Some home-based stain removers can cause difficulties that cannot be inverted.
- Be straightforward. Indicate the stains when you are dipping the clothes & recognize what caused the stain.
- If you have worries about loose buttons and small holes, then ask your cleaner to make repairs or check them thoroughly. If your cloth is vintage, then share that too so it can be dried even more carefully.
Benefits of eco-friendly dry cleaners
1- Decreased Health Risks
There is a major reason why several clients are switching to eco-friendly or wet cleaning from dangerous dry cleaning? As described above, eco-friendly dry cleaners do not contain volatile organic substances that pose a surplus of health risks, for example, eye & skin irritation, discomfort, and cancer.
High exposure to some toxic chemicals can also cause damage to the lungs or kidneys. More investigation is being led by the EPA about perc as a toxic chemical and continues to become banned in several states & countries; in America, the use of this toxic chemical within residential places has been banned for controlling health risks.
On the other hand, eco-friendly dry cleaners eliminate the exposure to such health risks because they use eco-friendly and non-toxic detergents as an alternative.
Eco-friendly cleaning is water-based it means that not only your well-being becomes better, but the lifespan of your cloth is also increased because it gives your fabric with a gentle wash, at the same time bringing better outcomes as compared to traditional dry cleaning.
2- Less contamination of groundwater
Unsafe cleaning agents such as perc, come into our environment after the process of dry cleaning. Meanwhile, these chemicals are frequently not eco-friendly; they gather in plants as well as wildlife.
These dangerous toxins later increase the toxic levels in the environment. Gradually, the water particles will become excessively harmful for marine life to live in.
On the other hand, the cleaning agents in eco-friendly dry cleaning, come from plants and are easily integrated into our environment.
3- Better air quality
There is a definite charm when you inhale the fragrance of cleaners such as perc on your garments. When you do this, you are at risk of breathing toxic chemicals during inhaling of these synthetic scents.
Meanwhile, products of eco-friendly dry cleaning are generally plant-based, and they have no powerful smells that can cause allergies.
Moreover, eco-friendly detergents utilized for wet cleaning have negligible chlorine-based mixes; this can cause ozone layer reduction.
With this valuable method, you can reduce the possibility of not only inhaling dangerous substances, but you can also decrease the rate of global warming.
4- Removes Stains Well
The chance of a better alternative to eliminate hard stains is an additional bonus to eco-friendly dry cleaning. Several dry cleaning workshops utilize perc to remove any kind of stains. But, this residue of perc in washed garments reverses the removal method of stain; hence, the stains become prominent again.
With eco-friendly dry cleaners, you can believe the following advantages for your garments:
- You will find cleaner outfits in ecofriendly cleaning rather than traditional dry cleaning.
- Wet cleaned clothes do not get the yellowish appearance you usually find on clothes that have been repeatedly cleaned by using perc.
- Clothes do not get industrial residual quantities of harmful substances like perc.
- Garments do not have any smell that comes from perc.
- Clothes fadeless, and the lifespan of your cloth is increased.
5- Saves water & energy
Eco-friendly dry cleaning approaches, for example, wet cleaning influences, the technology of the 21st century that uses less quantity of water to eliminate stains and dirt.
Furthermore, it contains a short spinning time; it means that it can save on overall energy spent. Therefore, it is very energy-efficient & ends with a decreased carbon footprint.
6- Removes cleaning waste
Finally, eco-friendly cleaning does not produce any harmful waste that should be disposed of, but in traditional dry cleaning, workers must dispose of perc, bottles having perc, unclean water, & polluted wipes between other chemicals.
Wrapping Up
Now, dry cleaning is progressively becoming more biodegradable with the overview of organic dry cleaning procedures. Wet cleaning and liquid CO2 cleaning are very effective methods when it comes to eco-friendly dry cleaning.
Wet cleaning is the non-toxic, professional cleaning process as there is no dangerous chemical, no harmful waste creation, no air contamination, and there is no soil and water contamination.
This article will help you to take more awareness of the advantages of eco-friendly dry cleaning or wet cleaning, and you can share this guide on any platform of social media, for example, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
