There aren’t a lot of small owner operated businesses out there in the US anymore; but you still see in just about every town a family owned dry cleaner or two; and I never thought much of it. But the other day I was spending the afternoon in true internet fashion; having a conversation with a chemical engineer who works in hazardous waste in California, the owner of a metal fabricating company in Canada, and a New York City transit cop. The metal fabricator was telling us about how he was manufacturing parts for a new C02 based dry cleaning machine; which got the chemical engineer expressing concern over how much of the CO2 would be released into the environment and how was this better than the tetrachloroethylene that is the present nastiness associated with dry cleaning. I realized I had some research to do.
According to the San Jose Mercury News:
California regulations phasing out the standard dry cleaning solvent – perchloroethylene – confront many cleaners with a huge financial challenge: changing over from a relatively cheap “perc” system to a more expensive, environmentally friendly service. The extent to which perc is dangerous is a matter of debate, but California officially designated it a toxic air contaminant, which means no exposure level is considered safe.
Perchloroethylene BTW is the industry name for tetrachloroethylene, and according to my hazardous waste engineer friend I mentioned earlier it’s pretty nasty stuff. But then again we all know the problem with C02 and do we really want to trade one evil for another?
According to this article on Ecomall
The CO2 is captured as a by-product of existing industrial processes, thereby utilizing emissions that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere; since only about two percent of the CO2 is lost into the air with each load of clothing, its impact on global warming is minimal. CO2 cleaning also uses less energy than traditional dry cleaning, which involves heating the solvent.
On the surface this all seems ok, and it very well may be. What I would like to know is if there is existing oversight and regulation in place to monitor the CO2 emissions that could result from poor maintenance and general apathy.
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I am a CO2 Dry Cleaning operator in the NY / NJ area (Green Apple Cleaners). Here we not only use CO2 but also water. In the daily course of cleaning about 60% of the clothes are cleaned in CO2 and the other 40% in water. Note that when we clean in water our machines us 50+% less water per garment then your home machine.
In cleaning in CO2 we have to keep everything in perspective, CO2 cleaned clothes (and finished with tensioning equipment) have been shown to last 20 to 40% longer then traditionally cleaned clothes, thereby making a global impact of reducing the replacement demand for new clothing (where the process of using dyes and transporting the goods to the US is far more environmentally damaging than just cleaning your clothes again)
Next, back of the envelop calculations that we have done show that if you were to clean about $50 per week in dry cleaning with a CO2 dry cleaner – for an entire year it would be equivalent to driving your car for 15 minutes – but driving produces NEW CO2 not recycled CO2 (from industry / the ground / and the continual CO2 cleaning process that allows us to recapture 98%of our CO2). So also think about that as you drive to your traditional drycleaner.
If you have any other questions, I will be happy to put you in contact with one of this country’s leading CO2 expert who will answer your questions directly. You can also contact me through our web site to learn about the many other ways that Green Apple Cleaners reduce / recycle as part of our cleaning process (from using reusable garment bags / recycled paper with soy inks / degradable plastic bags / bio-diesel ready 2007 – 2008 Dodge Sprinter / organically maintained and landscaped production facility / store retrofits with Leeds certified materials and hanger recycling programs to name a few) – now not all CO2 cleaners go as far as we do, but we are trying to set the example for others to follow.
David Kistner – CEO and Founder
Green Apple Cleaners
Lets not forget that no one oversees the CO2 cleaning processes. Many cleaners claim to be organic, but who really knows what it means to be organic? Sure CO2 for now seems safe, but not much research has been done about it since it seems to be a new technology. CO2 users will justified their use and all its benefits because it’s in their best interest, they’re owners and are in it to make money and not to save the environment. Sales pitch anyone?
Hello? Aren’t many of you missing the obvious point? The CO2 used in this form of dry cleaning is not “generated”!!! It is not NEW, latent CO2 released by the burning of fossil fuels. It is CAPTURED from the air during the gas liquification process, which produces liquid nitrogen and oxygen for the medical and other industries. When you release the CO2 after using it in the dry cleaning process, you have not created or released any NEW CO2, you have just release the exact amount of CO2 you initially captured.
The liquid CO2 used in the process is therefore irrelevant to the calculation of the “carbon footprint” of this process. Of course, it takes energy to liquify air in the first place, transport liquid CO2 (which is probably extremely heavy) to the plant, and of course, run the equipment.
The CO2 Dry Cleaning process is probably much more energy efficient than other methods of dry cleaning because:
1. it doesn’t require heating up water or any solvent
2. it doesn’t require any drying (CO2 sublimates instantly at standard temperature / pressure)
Am I right here?
Aaron,
Possibly. If the CO2 is in fact existing CO2 from the atmosphere no harm no foul.
But if it is CO2 captured from say, a coal plant then we are merely passing the buck, so to speak.
From David Kistner’s comment above it would seem cleaners like him are dealing with things responsibly but there is a potiential for abuse.
David,
I saw one of your van filling up with regular gas near by my house in NJ and it wasn’t filling up with bio-diesel. From my research from calling and looking at your company website, your company has very extensive delivery route service in NJ and NY. How can your company be consider ‘Green’, if you keep filling up your giant diesel delivery trucks with gas. Your company uses CO2 to clean our cloths and your vans pollutes our air with CO2. Stop this madness!
Andy L,
If the vans were not delivering the clothes (and I assume also picking up at the same time) then the consumer would have to do so. On net, I would think the impact would zero out unless David is delivering to people who would otherwise walk to the cleaners. It might even be more efficient for delivery if his vans are more fuel efficient than his clients’ vehicles. Am I missing something?
Dear all…especially David,
I find it very irritating that so many of the CO2 and wet cleaning guys get on their high horse so fast and so high! Why don’t they ever mention that their CO2 machines release about 10lbs of CO2 into the air with every load? In fact, they lose so much with each and every load, that CO2 cleaning plants install outlets on the outside of their buildings so a big tanker can pull up and fill their CO2 tanks on a regular basis. This is far more frequent than other cleaning methods that don’t require deliveries for months at a time. What do you think the Carbon Footprint of a tanker hauling in the stuff on a regular basis is? …so “recaptured” or not there is a negative carbon effect right there that they never talk about.
Also, how about the spotting chemicals the CO2 and Wet Cleaners use to treat stains? Since these processes don’t clean as well as more traditional methods, they need a lot more pre-treating to get stains out. Everyone knows this is true, and anyone who argues this point either operates a CO2 plant or sells CO2 machines. What happens to the spotting agents? Are the spotting chemicals as “non-toxic” or “organic” as their CO2 process supposedly is ? NO! Don’t the spotting agents go down the drain in the rinse water of the wet cleaning machines? YES!
Now, I am not saying that CO2 or Wet Cleaning are bad…and I applaud anyone who cares and is concerned about the environment in any aspect. I’m just sick of these guys who say their method is totally safe, completely non-toxic, totally organic, and is perfect in every manner! No method, NOTHING is perfect. In short, don’t forget the old saying, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Another case in point: How about the tensioning process that you brought up David? Did you leave out the fact that tensioning requires more steam to help stretch/press the garments back out to counteract the shrinking effects of wet cleaning? You point out that the wet cleaning machines use less water and you’re right about that. But how about being fair and mentioning this very important and very UN-green down side? Last I heard, steam was water turned into a gas using A LOT of energy to do so. Has that changed?
Wow…I didn’t think my response was going to be that long when I started. I could go on, but I think I’ve made my point for now.
David,
Sop BS ing us. CBS said you clean in glycol ether. Thats antifreeze isnt it? and it also is a regulated solvent I checked your registration with NJ DEP. You say you are green but clean in chemicals. Whats up with that, fueling your biodiesel truck with gas seems innocent compared to this deceptoin. Shame on you!!! You are claiming to clean clothes with CO2 and are cleaning them with glycolether. Bad Boy Bad Boy!!!