What is Green Dry Cleaning?

Friends and clients often ask me “what is green dry cleaning?”

The answer is actually a little more complicated than you might expect.

Let’s start with the history. Over the past few decades the vast majority of clothes have been dry cleaned in a chemical called perchloroethylene or perc. To this day over 85% of cleaners still use perc to dry clean your clothes.

Unfortunately, in recent years it was discovered that perc was a carcinogen and ground water contaminant (see this EPA report for more). http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/perchloroethylene_fact_sheet.html

In response to the dangers posed by perc, dry cleaners began to different cleaning alternatives and marketed themselves as green. The first was hydrocarbon, which is a petroleum based solvent. Of course, petroleum is many things, but rarely is it described as green.

About a decade ago, dry cleaners began using a siloxane based solvent widely known as GreenEarth. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that siloxane may also be a carcinogen.   http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/garment/d5fs3.pdf

To protect our clients and our earth from the environmental damage associated with traditional solvents, Mulberrys adopted a unique dry cleaning method that uses pressurized, recycled, naturally occurring CO2 to clean clothes. The use of odorless C02 enables us to return your clothes cleaner and without the chemical smell. Also, because no heat is used, your clothes are finished without the fading, shrinking, pilling or stain-setting common to all other dry cleaning methods.

In addition to our dry cleaning methods, Mulberrys uses toxin-free laundry detergents and packages our clothing in biodegradable bags to minimize our environmental impact.

We’re proud of our commitment to the environment and we hope you’ll come visit us at one of our five locations: Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, Edina, Eagan, and Ridgedale.

Eat, drink and be berry!