Perchloroethylene, much better called perc, is used by 80 percent of dry cleaners in Australia as a solvent to wash clothes that are “dry clean only.” Regardless of its effectiveness, making use of this chemical has been linked to a series of health negative effects and has recently come under heavy public scrutiny. With heavy regulation from relevant agencies, professional dry cleaners are seeking the use of a safer chemical– liquid co2– to provide a green laundry alternative. At-home dry cleaning kits such as are providing the choice of inexpensive & ecologically safe dry cleaning, that lowers the energy-burning, waste producing processes that the professionals use.

The primary step to green dry cleaning is replacing damaging chemicals with natural cleaning products. Perchloroethylene (perc) is a synthetic chemical that is made from a reaction between ethylene and chlorine. Like many syntheitic chemicals, it poses a danger to our health. Perc is a main nervous system depressant. Direct exposure to it can happen in the workplace or in the environment when it is released into air, water, land, or groundwater. It can also occur when people use products consisting of perc, spend time in dry cleaning facilities that use perc, live above or adjacent to these dry cleaning facilities, or bring dry cleaned garments into their home before they are properly aired out. Short-term contact can trigger dizziness, headaches, nausea, and inflammation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, while long term direct exposure poses greater risks, including liver and kidney damage and cancer.

Liquid carbon dioxide

Liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) seems the most practical green dry cleaning solvent to replace perchloroethylene. It is cheap, plentiful, naturally occurring and can even be recycled from the industrial wastes from the manufacture of chemicals such as ammonia. Most importantly, direct exposure to co2 has no health negative effects. The only disadvantages for dry cleaning with CO2 are that it does not clean as well as perc does and the equipment required to use it is very pricey, thus a greater cost is passed on to the customer.

A virtue of environmentalism is moderation. That being said, green dry cleanind is best attained if you do not dry tidy at all or restrict the use ofprofessional dry cleaning by utilizing at-home dry cleaning kits for garments with smaller sized spots and stains or that need to be freshened. Professional dry cleaning is a large process that uses a lot of energy and produces a lot of waste in the form of powder residue, sludge and wastewater. If the dry cleaner is still utilizing perc (it is still allowed in most states), these substances are hazardous. At-home dry cleaning involves no greater than a cleaning cloth and your clothes dryer. There are no damaging chemicals involved and no waste.

While perc remains the most effective dry cleaning solvent, making use of natural cleaning products and at-home dry cleaning can only be beneficial to our health and our environment.