Cleaner Dry Cleaners

In a perfect world, the best way to avoid dry cleaning toxins is to buy only clothes that don't require dry cleaning. But we all know that's not always possible. In an attempt to find out just how bad local dry cleaners are for the environment, SGSD discovered that California has already taken steps to insure that all dry cleaners clean up their act.

Thanks to a bill enacted last year by the Air Resources Board (part of the California Legislature), all dry cleaners in the state will be forced to phase out the use of perchloroethylene by 2023. Purchase of dry cleaning machines that use this toxic solvent is already forbidden as of this year, and by 2010 all machines of that type more than 15 years old must be replaced. Although some people are worried about the costs that this conversion will pass on to small business owners, the state is offering a $10,000 incentive to help every dry cleaner buy alternative machines.

But what is the alternative? As the name implies, dry cleaning refers to any method of cleaning clothes without the use of water, meaning a solvent is used instead. Alternatives to perc-based dry cleaning methods usually use hydrocarbon, silicon, or pressurized liquid carbon dioxide as the solvent. The jury is still out regarding the environmental trade-offs of emissions and toxins involved in the first two methods, so for now it seems that most environmentalists have settled on carbon dioxide as the best answer to green dry cleaning. Apparently it's more gentle on clothes, too.

Still, possible risks to the environment and personal health notwithstanding, it sounds like many dry cleaners are wary of plunking down the $100,000 (10 times the state's supplement) or more for a carbon dioxide machine, just to have that phased out a few years down the line for something even greener. Hence there are only something like 37 carbon dioxide-based dry cleaners in the country (one is in North County SD!).

BOTTOM LINE: 4 Stars ****
Dry cleaning is probably going to be wasteful no matter what. Can't blame the skeptics, but until better technologies are developed, here's a quick breakdown on some local dry cleaners and their solvents:

• Hangers Cleaners (carbon dioxide), Torrey Hills Marketplace, 4645 Carmel Mountain Rd., San Diego, CA 92130
  
• Sunny Fresh Cleaners (water), 8849 Villa La Jolla Dr. #303, La Jolla, CA 92037 (near Whole Foods)
• Green Cleaners (?), 1878 Grand Ave., Pacific Beach, CA 92109 (Supposedly perc-free, but their website never specifies what method they do use. Also non-responsive to inquiring emails.)