Perchloroethylene, better known as perc, is used by 80 percent of dry cleaners in the United States as a solvent to wash clothes that are “dry clean only.” Despite its effectiveness, the use of this chemical has been linked to a range of health side effects and has recently come under heavy public scrutiny. With heavy regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency, professional dry cleaners are seeking the use of a safer chemical—liquid carbon dioxide—to provide a green laundry alternative. At-home dry cleaning kits such as Dry Cleaner’s Secret are providing the option of affordable & environmentally safe dry cleaning, that cuts down the energy-burning, waste producing processes that the professionals use.
Dry Cleaning |
Liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) appears to be the most practical green dry cleaning solvent to replace perchloroethylene. It is cheap, abundant, naturally occurring and can even be recycled from the industrial wastes from the manufacture of chemicals such as ammonia. Most importantly, exposure to carbon dioxide has no health side effects. The only drawbacks for dry cleaning with CO2 are that it does not clean as well as perc does and the machinery needed to use it is very expensive, thus a higher price is past on to the consumer.
At-home dry cleaning |
While perc remains the most effective dry cleaning solvent, the use of natural cleaning products and at-home dry cleaning can only be beneficial to our health and our environment.
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