'GrEeN' laundry

Dry cleaning???

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Many dry cleaners place cleaned clothes inside thin clear plastic garment bags. Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using an organic solvent rather than water. The solvent used is typically tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene), abbreviated "perc" in the industry and "dry-cleaning fluid" by the public.

Dry cleaning is necessary for cleaning items which would otherwise be damaged by water and soap or detergent. It may be used if hand washing—needed for some delicate fabrics—is excessively laborious.

History
Dry cleaning uses non-water-based solvents to remove soil and stains from clothes. The potential for using petroleum based solvents in this manner was discovered in the mid-19th century by French dye-works owner Jean Baptiste Jolly, who noticed that his tablecloth became cleaner after his maid spilled kerosene (paraffin) on it. He subsequently developed a service cleaning people's clothes in this manner, which became known as "nettoyage à sec," or "dry cleaning" in English. Early dry cleaners used petroleum-based solvents such as gasoline and kerosene. Flammability concerns led William Joseph Stoddard, a dry cleaner from Atlanta, to develop Stoddard solvent as a slightly less flammable alternative to gasoline-based solvents.

The use of highly flammable petroleum solvents caused many fires and explosions, resulting in government regulation of dry cleaners. After World War I, dry cleaners began using chlorinated solvents. These solvents were much less flammable than petroleum solvents and had improved cleaning power.

By the mid-1930s the dry cleaning industry had adopted tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene), colloquially called "perc," as the ideal solvent. It has excellent cleaning power and is stable, nonflammable, and gentle to most garments. However, perc was also the first chemical to be classified as a carcinogen by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (a classification later withdrawn). In 1993 the California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted an airborne toxic control measure (ATCM) to reduce perc emissions from dry cleaning operations.

The dry cleaning industry is now beginning to replace perc with other chemicals and/or methods. At this time, dry-cleaning was carried-out in two different machines—one for the cleaning process itself and the second to dry the garments.

Process
A dry cleaning machine is similar to a combination of a domestic washing machine, and clothes dryer. Garments are placed into a washing/extraction chamber (referred to as the basket, or drum), which is the core of the machine.... Garments are also checked for foreign objects. Items such as plastic pens will dissolve in the solvent bath and may damage textiles beyond recovery. Some textile dyes are "loose" (red being the main culprit), and will shed dye during solvent immersion. These will not be included in a load along with lighter colored textiles to avoid color transfer. The solvent used must be distilled to remove impurities that may transfer to clothing.

Modern dry cleaning machines use a closed-loop system where the chilled air is reheated and recirculated. This results in high solvent recovery rates and reduced air pollution. In the early days of dry cleaning, large amounts of perchlorethylene were vented to the atmosphere because it was regarded as cheap and believed to be harmless. After the drying cycle is complete, a deodorizing (aeration) cycle cools the garments and removes the last traces of solvent, by circulating cool outside air over the garments and then through a vapor recovery filter made from activated carbon and polymer resins. After the aeration cycle, the garments are clean and ready for pressing/finishing.

Environment Perc is classified as a hazardous air contaminant by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and must be handled as a hazardous waste. To prevent it from getting into drinking water, dry cleaners that use perc must take special precautions against site contamination. Landlords are becoming increasingly reluctant to allow dry cleaners to operate in their buildings. When released into the air, perc can contribute to smog when it reacts with other volatile organic carbon substances. California declared perchloroethylene a toxic chemical in 1991, and its use will become illegal in that state in 2023.
For details, click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_cleaning


Wet cleaning???

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wet cleaning is a non-toxic, environmentally safe alternative to dry cleaning, utilizing computer-controlled washing machines, biodegradable soaps and conditioners, and various types of pressing equipment that may be specialized for many different fabric and fiber types.

Modern wet-cleaning technology was developed by Miele in 1991. In Italy among the first companies that occupy in the wet cleaning there is Lavastir. An earlier form of wet cleaning was offered by Saville Row bespoke tailors: a suit would be carefully measured, linings and interfacings would be removed, and the garments would be carefully hand washed in cold water and mild detergent, rinsed in cold water, and blocked to its original shape and air-dried; then the linings and interfacings would be put back in.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Wet Cleaning is the safest professional method of dry cleaning. It does not use hazardous chemical, it does not generate hazardous waste, nor create air pollution and reduced potential for water and soil contamination.” It uses the universal solvent—water—along with special computer-controlled machines such as the ones designed by Miele. The specialized detergents and conditioner used in the Wet Clean process are milder than home laundry products. All the Products are disposed of down the drain and easily handled by the local waste treatment facility.

Professional wet cleaning is an environmentally preferred alternative to Perchloroethylene (or "PERC"); however the chemicals used by many wet cleaners to pre-treat clothing have been found to be equally toxic as PERC. According to a report released March 2007, the spotting agents used even by so-called “green” dry cleaners account for close to 40,000 gallons, or 242 tons, of trichloroethylene (TCE) and about 150 gallons, or 1 ton, of PERC being used annually in the state of California. PERC and TCE are carcinogens and both are listed on Proposition 65; wastes even from professional wet cleaners using these chemicals are classified as hazardous.

Tailors have generally recommended that garments be returned to them once a year for wet cleaning and dry-cleaned in between. These tailors are also careful to choose materials that will not be destroyed by water, even if they later sew in the usual "Dry Clean Only" label. Some clothing manufacturers may mislabel their clothing "Dry Clean Only", even though there is no "reasonable basis" for making the claim that the garment will be harmed if it is not dry cleaned. A few fabrics—notably rayon and acetate—are invariably labeled "dry clean only" but may not be safe to wet clean. They are definitely not safe to wash. Some such garments are intended to be worn only once.
For details, click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_cleaning

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