From Tallahassee to Tokyo, millions of businesses around the world are getting serious about “going green.” Wallace Francis, owner of Beach Bluff Cleaners in Marblehead, has been green since 2001 — the first green dry cleaner in the state — and wonders what took everyone so long?
After 10 years of processing with perchloroethylene (perc), Francis experienced firsthand the hazards of processing with a toxic chemical. For years, he and his employees at the processing plant would tolerate skin irritations, nagging headaches and breathing problems. This prompted Francis to search for an alternative to cleaning with perc.
Although the industry continued to claim that perc was safe, Francis knew better.
Francis said, “You know you are in a bad place when at the end of a good day’s work, you feel lousy.”
So in September 2001, he made the significant investment to switch from perc to then newly introduced environmentally friendly GreenEarth Cleaning process, which avoids the hazardous chemicals and air-polluting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) used by most other dry cleaners.
The GreenEarth Cleaning process cleans with pure liquid silicone. Silicone is essentially liquefied sand; when released to the environment, it returns to the three natural elements from which it is made: sand and trace amounts of water and CO2. Not only is it better for the environment, it is better for people and better for clothes, Francis says.
“We are proud to be a business that people who care about the environment can patronize with confidence,” Francis said. “Our GreenEarth Cleaning process is better for our community, our customers and our employees.”
He added, “We are proof that it is possible to be both ‘clean’ and ‘green’ and do so with competitive pricing. Our customers actually prefer the way their clothes look, feel and smell. And our employees are happy because all of the negative side effects of working with perc are gone.”
Francis chose the GreenEarth Cleaning system because other alternative solvents, like hydrocarbon, are petrochemicals and classified as air-polluting VOCs (volatile organic compounds), and he wanted to make a full commitment to environmental protection. Unlike harsh petrochemical processes, GreenEarth is 100 percent odorless, non-toxic and will not leach dyes or damage fabrics.
“One of the first things people notice when they went in our shop is the lack of odor. Odor is a dead giveaway that a dry cleaner is using petrochemicals,” said Francis.
The telltale, unpleasant “dry-cleaning smell” that lingers on clothes after being processed in perc is an especially common complaint for many dry cleaning customers.
In February, Francis’ experiences and decisions were supported by the National Academy of Sciences Council, with the release of its long-awaited review of the EPA’s 2008 reassessment of perchloroethylene. The review confirmed that the EPA’s proposed reclassification of perc from a “possible” to “probable” carcinogen to a “likely human carcinogen” was scientifically accurate. The review also confirmed that the most likely non-cancerous impact of perc on people is increased risk of nerve and brain damage.
The National Academy of Science’s ruling sets the stage for tougher regulation of perc at the federal and state level. In California, a statewide phase-in of a ban on perc is already under way; similar legislation is being pursued in many other states.
Francis said, “It is gratifying after all these years of criticism to know that ‘the path least traveled’ was the right way to go green. Hopefully, other dry cleaners will follow my lead, and we will have a safer, greener world for our children.”