As hard as we might try, sometimes you end up buying things that need to be dry cleaned. Dry cleaning has been around for a very long time, and if you ever buy clothes that need this type of cleaning, you know that it can get expensive. But did you also know how bad the chemicals they use are for the environment? The main chemical used by dry cleaners is perchloroethylene, which the EPA considers to be very hazardous to both our personal health and that of the world around us. It is incredibly toxic to fish, plants and other marine life, and in bigger doses changes our own biological make up. Perchloroethylene is a central nervous system depressant, and inhaling its vapors can cause dizziness, headache, sleepiness, confusion, nausea, difficulty in speaking and walking, unconsciousness, and death. If the chemical is allowed to seep into the ground, it can contaminate both the soil we use to grow our food and get into our water table, which then puts the chemical straight into our bodies. Once in your body, it can get stored for indefinite amounts of time in our body fat, and we have a hard time getting rid of it.

Is that enough to make you think twice about using regular dry cleaners to clean your wool sweater? Scary…

There are “green” dry cleaning methods that use silicone based cleaners, along with “wet” dry cleaners that use water and regular detergents in ways you can not in your home washing machine. My city has outlawed the use of perchloroethylene by the year 2009, and green dry cleaners have been popping up everywhere around here. You can find more environmentally friendly cleaners, along with a host of other info for your area, at earth911.org. Just enter your zip code and you can search for the type of information you are looking for.

Or, you could always hand wash your delicates in the sink or avoid items needing dry cleaning altogether, but that is not always possible.

technorati: Perchloroethylene, dry cleaning, environment

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