A Cleaner Drycleaner
By Lily Auliff

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) – the stuff of soda pop, exhaled air, and global warming – has found a new use at Houston’s first environmentally friendly dry cleaners. Hangers Cleaners, located at 2808 Richmond, uses new technology that cleans with pressurized liquid CO₂, a non-toxic alternative to perchloroethylene.

“The CO₂ comes from industry as a byproduct,” explains James Perkins, general manager of the new store. “Not only do we use a recycled, non-toxic solvent, but we then recycle 98 percent of the CO₂ we use. Only about 2 percent escapes during the process.”

There are other benefits to the CO₂ method, says Perkins. The process is done at room temperature, so there is no concern about shrinking or fading, and less lint is produced. And the clothes don’t smell funny when you pick them up.

Hangers’ prices are competitive with the more upscale cleaners in the area, he adds.

The majority of dry cleaners in the Houston region clean clothing with perchloroethylene, or perc, a toxic, petroleum-based solvent with known health effects.

“Recent evidence suggests that long-term low-level exposure to perchloroethylene may not only increase one’s risk for several types of cancer,” says Winifred J. Hamilton, Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine, “but may adversely affect neurologic, reproductive, hepatic, and renal function. Deficits in cognition, memory, and motor coordination have been noted in animal studies as well as in workers and in residents living near dry cleaning establishments.” Among workers, increased spontaneous abortions and difficulty getting pregnant have been reported, she explains.

Exposure to high levels of perc, even for short periods, may cause dizziness, fatigue, headaches, confusion, nausea, and skin, lung, eye, and mucous membrane irritation, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Some perc inevitably escapes into the air, water, and ground during the cleaning and waste disposal processes. It can stay in the air for several weeks, eventually breaking down into other chemicals – some toxic, says the EPA. In the Houston area, outdoor perc levels are considerably higher in upper income areas than in lower income areas, according to a study from the Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center.

Recent research shows that relatively high amounts or perc can remain in cleaned clothing and contaminate consumers’ homes for up to a week after garments are brought home. The Leland study also indicates that perc levels are highest in the homes of the wealthy.

Perc in the ground kills plants and has been known to enter ground and surface water. In California, 10 percent of drinking water wells are contaminated with perc, according to Greenpeace. Small amounts in the water are toxic to aquatic animals, which store the chemical in fatty tissues.

A handful of drycleaners in the Houston area uses a different petroleum-based solvent called DP-2000, considered environmentally safer than perc. However, unlike perc and CO₂, the solvent is quite flammable, and some consider it a fire hazard. It also may be less effective and carries a strong odor.

A safer process is “wet-cleaning,” a high-tech method using water, non-toxic soap, and special washing and drying machines. Wet cleaning can be used on most, but not all, “dry clean only” garments. The new Hangers features the only wet cleaning machine in Houston, according to Perkins. Customers can choose wet cleaning or CO₂ cleaning, depending on their needs.

Perkins and franchise owner Greg York hope to open more than 50 Hangers stores in the area over the next five years.

All this seems like good news to environmentalists, but don’t expect your neighborhood mom and pop cleaners to switch to CO₂ anytime soon. CO₂ machines cost about $150,000 – twice as much as some perc machines. And, Hangers has a monopoly on the technology. In order to buy a CO₂ machine from Micell, the patent holder and Hangers’ parent company, a cleaner must become a Hangers franchise and send 5 percent of their revenues back.