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The GreenEarth Platform of Responsible Sustainability

The GreenEarth Platform of Responsible Sustainability

By Joe Blaha

The advantages of a chemical solvent over water based methods of cleaning textiles were discovered in the 1800’s when the realization that stains that would not come out in water would come out in turpentine.  Dry cleaning (cleaning without water ) was born and from there continued to evolve.

It is hard to imagine how that this early process was performed pleasantly or safely, as turpentine is extremely flammable, has a strong unpleasant odor and is highly toxic if inhaled.

Over the years other solvents with fewer negative attributes have come and gone.  The early 1900’s saw the widespread introduction of the more economical but still highly flammable petroleum based Stoddard solvent.

The Stoddard solvent has such a low flash point that it was the cause of many fires and explosions in these early plants.

The next carbon based solvent, perchloroethylene ( perc ) was widely adopted in the mid 1900’s as it had no flashpoint, reducing the fire hazard and had a more aggressive cleaning capability than Stoddard. It was soon to become the solvent of choice for the dry cleaning industry.

This honeymoon with “perc”came crashing down in the late 1900’s with the widespread advent of site and ground water contamination lawsuits, the sky-high costs of remediation and the realized health concerns of occupational and co-residential exposure. Landlords often saddled with the cleanup costs increasingly rejected leasing to dry cleaners which has led to the introduction of many new alternative solvents.

GreenEarth liquid silicone solution which is not a carbon-based solvent, was introduced to the industry in 1999.

Now eighteen years later, it still stands alone as the only non-regulated dry cleaning solvent available commercially to the industry. The largest of the operators of shopping centers in North America , including Kimco and Regency, will only provide new leases to GreenEarth Affiliates based on their environmental concerns for the other new and still carbon based alternatives.

GreenEarth Cleaning has never stopped enhancing and promoting additional operational and environmental benefits, that are available to its Affiliate network.

Along with the GreenEarth solution used to process garments in the dry cleaning machine, the GreenEarth Cleaning System has promoted the elimination of regulated spotting chemicals and additives commonly used openly in the workplace of those still operating on the carbon/petroleum based solvent platforms.

Available to GreenEarth Affiliates now, are a proprietary suite of viable and environmentally friendly spotters and additives that are designed to safely optimize the capabilities of its unique silicone chemistry.  Couple that with the list of benefits that are offered by the activated clay cold purification process which include utility savings, less additive use, excellent cleaning performance, the best solvent mileage, shorter cycle times and a cooler plant environment, there is no more sustainable or lower cost dry cleaning system available to the industry.

With GreenEarth Cleaning the opportunity to claim “Maximized Sustainability“, the theme of this year’s Las Vegas Clean Show presentation, is a reality!

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