Everything's Going Green

摘要

Over the past few months and years, many retailers have been trying to convince the public that they are "green," or friendly to the planet. This trend is familiar to drycleaners. In the industry, it began with the question of whether or not perchloro-ethylene is a cancer-causing substance. Now and for more than 20 years, the federal government and environmentalists have kept the turmoil going. At the same time, industry associations have struggled to counter the bad publicity and still defend the use of perc. The situation prompted some companies to develop alternative solvent systems including two high-flashpoint hydrocarbons, GreenEarth, liquid CO_2 and DrySolv. Only time will tell what we will finally be able to call the "best" solvent-if there is one. Alongside these solvents, wetcleaning is winning more converts not as a replacement, but an additional process that can clean up to 50% of the garments typically serviced by drycleaners.