i’m working on an article about dry cleaning for the spring 2007 issue of worn fashion journal.(..)

Any thoughts or questions on dry cleaning, definitely let me know. who knows, maybe i’ll quote you in my article you dry clean expert you. no seriously- i am asking around for stories, opinions, etc- i’d really appreciate any contributions.
you can leave them as comments on the post on my personal blog:
http://risa.touchbasic.com/html/sharing-my-dry-cleaning-data-thanks-google-notebook/
cheers yo. risa.

Tetrachloroethylene is widely used for dry-cleaning fabrics and metal degreasing operations.  The main effects of tetrachloroethylene in humans are neurological, liver, and kidney effects following acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) inhalation exposure.  Adverse reproductive effects, such as spontaneous abortions, have been reported from occupational exposure to tetrachloroethylene; however, no definite conclusions can be made because of the limitations of the studies.  Results from epidemiological studies of dry-cleaners occupationally exposed to tetrachloroethylene suggest increased risks for several types of cancer.  Animal studies have reported an increased incidence of liver cancer in mice, via inhalation and gavage (experimentally placing the chemical in the stomach), and kidney and mononuclear cell leukemia in rats.  In the mid-1980s, EPA considered the epidemiological and animal evidence on tetrachloroethylene as intermediate between a probable and possible human carcinogen (Group B/C).  The Agency is currently reassessing its potential carcinogenicity.

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Please Note: The main sources of information for this fact sheet are EPA's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), which contains information on oral chronic toxicity and the RfD, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry's (ATSDR's) Toxicological Profile for Tetrachloroethylene. Another secondary source is EPA's Health Effects Assessment for Tetrachloroethylene

Historical

• Stoddard solvent — Very flammable and explosive, 100°F/38°C flash point.
• Carbon tetrachloride — Toxic and corrosive
• Trichloroethane — Overly aggressive and harsh
• Valclene 113 Freon-113 — Ozone destroying CFC

Numerous drycleaning firms, especially in California, have gone south because of Mexico's less stringent environmental laws. U.S. drycleaning cleaning firms have not complied with Mexican environmental laws.

Montreal Protocol in 1989. The Protocol stipulates that the production and consumption of compounds that deplete the ozone in the atmosphere; chloroflorocarbons, (CFCs), halons, and methyl chloroform are to be phased out by 2000 (2005 for methyl chloroform). These are just a few of the chemicals used by the drycleaning industry. Due to loopholes in the Protocol and Mexico's desire for economic growth, there is very little regulation placed on U.S. and Mexican industries within Mexico.

While drycleaning has been continuously modernized and improved over the years, it is still one of the few service professions that requires a great deal of skill and hands-on experience. Fashion and fabrics are constanlty changing and it is up to the professional drycleaner and/or professional fabricare expert to constantly update his/her methods and processes

The EPA and Greenpeace have acknowledged that drycleaning is hazardous to the environment and to people. Potential hazardous wastes generated by drycleaning and laundry plants are primarily solvents which include: Perchloroethylene, known as perc, valclene, known as fluorocarbon 113, and petroleum solvents, such as Stooddard, quick-dry, low-odor and other solvents(4).

Drycleaning causes severe harm to the health of workers, the general public and the environment. Dry cleaners emit 12 more times more perc into the air than the combined total from all other American industries required to report emissions to the EPA. Of all the toxic contaminants in urban air, perc concentrations are the highest. The food from stores or residences near dry cleaners contain perc levels up to 800 times higher than normal. Finally, perc levels in groundwater supplies contaminated by dry cleaners are hundreds or thousands of times higher than federal standards (5).

In 1985, countries all over the world attended the Vienna Convention. At this convention, participating countries defined their intent to protect the fragile ozone layer. Entered into force in 1988, the Vienna Convention received international support to protect the ozone layer. To define this support, the Montreal Convention was convened in Canada in 1987, by the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (6).

The Montreal Convention compiled a list of ozone-depleting substances (chlorfluorcarbons and halons) as well as documentation describing each substance's depletion potential. A time table was enacted for reducing the production and use of these chemicals. The result was the Montreal Protocol (7). The Protocol called for the elimination of all ozone-depleting chemicals by the year 2000. The Protocol entered into force on January 1, 1989 with amendments in 1990 (London) and 1992 (Copenhagen) that strengthened the agreement.

One of the main reasons why U.S.drycleaning firms have relocated to Mexico is from provisions derived from the Protocol itself. Developing countries, like Mexico, have a longer grace period to phase out the use of the harmful solvents used in drycleaning as well as other industries. Drycleaning solvents are, for the most part banned from being used and exported from the United States. However, the ban has not gone into effect in Mexico.

Mexico does have tough environmental laws. The problem lies in the fact that the laws are not enforced where foreign firms are concerned.

During the last few years, a green movement has emerged in Mexico. The movement consists of politicians and citizens. The Green Movement and policy makers alike have dedicated themselves to proving that NAFTA and the liberalization of other economic barriers will not result in the degradation of the environment. An example of a green movement sponsored initiative is the ambitious program of "one day without a car". This program restricts residents of Mexico City from using their car one business day per week.

he General Law of Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection was published on January 28, 1988 and became effective on March 1, 1988. This law replaced the previous law on environmental matters. The Law states that any activity that is performed in Mexico, whether public or private, that may cause imbalances in the ecological system must be in accordance with the conditions, norms and regulations set by the Secretariat of Social Development (Sedesol). Those companies that do not voluntarily comply with environmental standards and regulatory requirements, are subjected to fines and shutdowns (12).

DoveCorp, the largest processor of dry cleaning and commercial laundry in Canada,

Analysts say DoveCorp's $12-million central processing plant, which opened in 2004, gives it a huge advantage compared to the single in-house machines used by mom-and-pop shops, and it will help DoveCorp edge out its competition. Alberta-based K-Bro Linen Income Fund remains Mizrahi's top competitor in the commercial laundry sector, while mom-and-pop shops are the main players in the dry cleaning business. Mizrahi plans to tackle them head-on: He has deals in place to open storefronts inside Wal-Mart, International News and Longo's stores across the country by 2007.

All packaging materials are made from 100% recycled materials, and can be returned to any location for recycling
	Our processing equipment exceeds every environmental standard in the world
	Our 'closed loop' system prevents 99% of all solvents and related gases from escaping into the atmosphere
	Our finished garments and materials are 99.95% solvent-free
	We use only hyp-allergenic detergents

Fifty years ago, at the end of World War II, ours was a great country with freedom for all and the opportunity to pursue success and happiness. I fought for that cause with the U.S. Marines during World War II. Now the very freedom I fought for is being eroded in many ways by a government of bureaucrats who mandate all kinds of regulations resulting in business paying a terrific price.

We, the small business people of America, are the backbone of our country

We are the producers of America and provide most of the jobs and taxes required to keep the government going and growing and growing. Those who don't produce dictate policy and write mandates to give themselves and their agencies more power at the expense of the producers of this country.

The same goes for the environmental groups who go from cause to cause and take satisfaction in raising funds for their causes to save endangered species, the ozone layer, the whales, the spotted owls, wetlands, and any other cause they can use to keep raising funds.

They may save all these things but they are killing off another species. They are killing off the producers, the hard working, risk-taking entrepreneurs who supply more jobs than any group in America. We are the people who have made this country great.

They are the counter-productive do-gooders who smugly convince themselves they are doing good deeds. They are inadvertently taking the incentive away from the most needed people in America. We should seriously analyze their motives and prove that they aren't what they would have the public believe.

These groups do not produce products or services but simply tell others what to do and get their funds and power without being productive members of society. This aggravates me and I'll do anything I can to see it changed.

If we cave in to these parasites, we will have lost another battle against freedom and truth and everyone will suffer. The consumer they claim to protect will wind up paying higher prices for drycleaning and a poorer quality of cleaning.

And with that as my closing statement, ladies and gentlemen of the jury of public opinion, I rest my case.

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Acknowledgments
I wish to thank a number of people
in the industry who read a draft of this report
and offered their suggestions and comments.

National Clothesline provides news and information needed by garment care professionals to be successful in a rapidly changing industry. Nearly 30,000 cleaners and their suppliers throughout the United States and around the world receive it monthly by mail -- and now each current issue along with recent issues are available conveniently and quickly on the Web.

Like many of the companies in the industry it serves, the publication is a small, family-owned enterprise, founded in 1961 by Sol and Carol Memberg.

Not only is perc used for dry cleaning, it is also used for metal degreasing - two uses that would seem incompatible. There are also other sources of perc - it is used in shoe polish, printing inks, textiles, and other manufactured products. However, perc is used the most by dry cleaning establishments, and they use a lot of it: it is estimated that 80 to 85 percent use the chemical.

Many National Priorities List (NPL) sites (Superfund sites) are contaminated by perc. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), perc has been found in at least 771 of the nation's 1,430 NPL sites (ATSDR, 1997).

erc was introduced to the U.S. dry cleaning industry around 1934, and was considered a better cleaning agent than the once-favored petroleum-based products. Perc's popularity was also fueled by petroleum shortages caused by World War II. In addition, "because perc was not considered a fire hazard, professional cleaners were able to move into residential and commercial areas of cities. By the early 1960s, perc became the most widely used dry cleaning solvent in the United States.

The three most common non-perc cleaning methods, and their pros and cons, are:

  A new use for liquid carbon dioxide currently under development is as a dry-cleaning solvent. Currently, most laundries use chlorinated hydrocarbons as dry-cleaning solvents. These chlorinated hydrocarbons are probable human carcinogens, so the search is on for replacements. Carbon dioxide does not exist in liquid form at atmospheric pressure at any temperature. The pressure-temperature phase diagram of CO₂ shows that liquid carbon dioxide at 20°C requires a pressure of 30 atmospheres. The lowest pressure at which liquid CO₂ exists is at the triple point, namely 5.11 atm at -56.6°C. The high pressures needed for liquid CO₂ require specialized washing machines. Like chlorinated hydrocarbons, liquid carbon dioxide is an effective solvent for grease and oils. Liquid CO₂ has some advantages over chlorinated hydrocarbons--items that cannot be dry cleaned with chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as leather, fur, and some synthetics, can be safely cleaned with liquid carbon dioxide.

In 2003, Consumer Reports' report "Dry-cleaning Alternatives" compared the three methods plus traditional wet-cleaning. Their tests revealed:

In a system using DrySolv, perc may still be present in spotting chemicals and soaps and residually in equipment — seals, gaskets, dead spaces, low spots, and lint. As a result, perc will continue to appear in still bottoms, so the waste must be considered as hazardous waste.

They say that perc is poisoning too many people and causing many of them to die ... More than 23000 factories, refineries and chemical manufacturers were

erc remains the dominant solvent at about 80 percent overall and, with regulations covering perc not expected to change, perc’s position has stabilized while hydrocarbons could face further regulation in the future. This has led to reports that perc is gaining a preferred position over hydrocarbon in new machine sales.

In China the industry is growing along with the rest of that nation’s economy.

In particular, the growth of a middle-class consumer market lends itself to drycleaning expansion and, at approximately one drycleaning shop per 22,000 population, there is plenty of room for more growth. Perc is the dominant solvent in China, too, with about 90 percent of the market compared to 10 percent for hydrocarbon. Much of the equipment would seem out of date by Western standards; almost all of the perc machines are second generation and the hydrocarbon machines are almost exclusively of the transfer type.

Perchloroethylene (“perc”), the solvent used by most dry cleaning establishments, is known to disrupt the central nervous system and contaminate human breast milk. According to the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, it can lead to headaches, nausea, dizziness, and memory problems. Released into the air, perc can harm the health of dry cleaning workers and of people who live near dry cleaners. (In Manhattan, nearly 88,000 New Yorkers live within 20 meters of a dry cleaner.) A small amount of the chemical also remains in dry-cleaned clothing and can contaminate consumers’ homes.

 40 000 dry cleaners, 3000 offering safer proven alternatives - 
greenpeace dry cleaning report card

Profile of the Dry Cleaning Industry

This week, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced 11 new Superfund Sites. Three of the 11 new Superfund sites were listed to address contamination caused by release of PCE from dry cleaning businesses.

Dry cleaner operations today have greatly improved their handling of PCE and other solvents, with a corresponding reduction in the threat to groundwater quality. The legacy of dry cleaning operations in past decades, when the volumes of solvent used were as much as five times higher than present, when machinery and solvent handling practices generated significant PCE releases, and when waste disposal practices generally were limited to sewer connections, septic tanks, landfills, and dumping, continues to threaten groundwater resources today.

PCE has in many instances been shown to be a very persistent and problematic contaminant. For example, US EPA is investigating impacts to the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz County from a dry cleaning business that closed its doors more than 40 years ago. In Santa Clara County, the 220 active dry cleaning plants represent only a quarter of the total number of locations in which dry cleaning businesses have operated in the past 70 years. The majority of these former dry cleaning operations have not been investigated for impacts to groundwater or potential health risk from vapor intrusion to occupied structures.