©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Organic cleaning is served
by Kristin Pazulski

Bonlynn’s new equipment replaces widely-used perc with hydrocarbon DF 2000. (Photo by Kristin Pazluski)

The “Organic Dry Cleaning” that Chestnut Hill’s Bonlynn Cleaners proudly heralds via a yellow sign outside 8522 Germantown Ave. results from the purchase of new equipment, which uses the hydrocarbon solvent DF 2000. The solvent is considered organic because its carbon content categorizes it as an organic chemical.

DF 2000 replaces the use of perchloroethylene, or perc — the most widely used solvent among dry cleaners, according to the International Fabricare Institute’s vice president of membership, John Meijer. “About 85 percent of the dry-cleaning industry uses perc,” Meijer told the Local.

However, perc has been deemed a hazardous air pollutant by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and is regulated as an air toxic — which means the product has been known or suspected to cause cancer and other serious health problems.

Carol Memberg, executive director of the Pennsylvania and Delaware Cleaners Association, said perc has been proven to cause cancer in laboratory rats, but not in people.

Chun Lee, owner of Bonlynn, said she changed solvents after customers complained of an odor on their clothes. She said the smell was caused by perc and that the new solvent would not leave an odor. “Our customers seem to like [DF 2000],” Lee said.

Memberg said both perc and DF 2000, if used correctly, are good cleaners and should not make clothes smell. She said nothing cleans as well as perc, but that many dry cleaners are “more comfortable switching to DF 2000 over perc because it is less regulated right now.”

Some efforts are forming to gradually phase out perc, which already has tough restrictions on its use. Before perc was regulated in the 1980s by the EPA, the used solvent would contaminate landfills because it was thrown away in the trash, as was gasoline and other unrestricted but hazardous products. Today, however, perc users must complete weekly reports on the use of the solvent and follow other restrictions to ensure safety, whereas DF 2000 can be taken to “most any landfill because it’s not a hazard,” Meijer said.

Though DF 2000 is considered more “environmentally friendly” because it doesn’t contaminate the ground, Memberg said the emission from the solvent does deplete the ozone. She said, as in the case of perc, dry-cleaning equipment using DF 2000 should remain tightly sealed to reduce emissions, and users of DF 2000 must be “skilled,” as it is slightly more difficult to use.

In California, the state’s Air Resources Board has proposed further restrictions and an eventual “phasing out” of perc, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which oversees the air quality in and around smoggy Los Angeles, implemented a plan in 2002 to phase out the solvent’s use by 2020. The EPA is also considering further restrictions and an eventual phase-out of perc.

Recycling and better equipment have led to a significant drop in solvent use in the past 10 years, Meijer said. Dry-cleaners recycle solvent waste — which is used in other industries such as solvent degreaser manufacturers — instead of sending the waste to landfills. Improved equipment has led to better, extended use of the solvents as well.