By Laura Turner Seydel
When shopping locally, it is important to support the businesses that are mindful about healthier products and services that contribute to creating a more holistic community for us all to live, work and play. From restaurants to clothing boutiques, Atlanta is full of businesses who are adopting Zero Waste Zone practices, offering eco-friendly services and creating an overall culture of sustainability for the benefit and health of our city.
Dry cleaning might not be the first thing you think when going green, but the service increases a garments’ longevity and reduces the amount of water and soap used in traditional at-home washing cycles since it is recommended that dresses, suits and pants be worn 4 times per each dry clean.
However, undoing all its good is the fact that over 85 percent of all drycleaners throughout the United States use a process that involves Perchlorethylene (Perc, for short), a chemical which is recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as a known human toxin. The chemical enters the body through inhalation and skin absorption, and unlike ingestion that allows the chemical to eventually be filtered out, Perc remains stored in fat tissue where it acts as a hormone disruptor and possible carcinogen.
Through the traditional dry cleaning process Perc can also leak, spill and emit its harmful properties into our air, land and water causing smog, contaminated drinking water and the killing of plant life.
But one Buckhead business has taken a stand against Perc and other traditional dry cleaning chemicals.
For over 20 years national franchise concept OXXO Care Cleaners has used the GreenEarth cleaning process that uses liquid silicone, a gentle, odorless and colorless solution made from one of the earth’s safest and most abundant natural resources, instead. The GreenEarth process is three-fold safe for the environment, safe for you and safe for your clothing. While OXXO Cleaners does cost slightly more than its traditional, chemical-based competitors, paying the higher premium is a small price to pay for your health and environment.
If you are unable to find a green dry cleaner that is convenient to your home or work, ask your cleaner about their cleaning methods and how they handle their solvent waste streams. Solvent smells are a surefire way to tell if they are compliment, as odors can indicate improper processing or solvent use. It is important to “vote with your checkbook,” so if they are not in line with proper safety requirements, take your business to someone who is.
You can always make the dry cleaning process even greener by recycling your hangers and garment plastic covering. OXXO Care Cleaners will reuse all returned hangers for future garment hanging and recycles all plastic through local recycling efforts. Ask your cleaners if they do the same and if they do not, encourage them to start.
OXXO Care Cleaners is located at 3167 Peachtree Road. For more local, eco-friendly businesses in Atlanta, visit LauraSeydel.com/green-resource-guide.
