Green tech hits the dry cleaning business

Added at 5:09pm, Friday September 18th 2009

By Canada Green Tech | www.canadiangreentech.ca

Green is the new “in colour” these days with many industries capitalizing on growing concerns about climate change and the need to reduce our dependence on non-renewable sources of energy and non-environmentally friendly chemicals. Well, the dry cleaning business got on board earlier this year when Toronto-based Parkers Custom Clothing Care revealed it was using a new, environmentally friendly system.

The company, which was first established in Ottawa in 1876, uses the Solvair cleaning system that uses a biodegradable fluid to clean the clothes and combines that with a high-tech drying process that doesn’t use any heat.

“We are the first dry cleaners in Canada and among the very first in the world, next to the U.S. and Japan, to use this new environmentally-friendly Solvair Cleaning System,” says Gary Fine, president of Parkers Custom Clothing Care.

Conventional dry cleaning uses perchloroethylene, a toxic chemical that is found in many other products such as aerosol products, solvent soaps, printing inks, adhesives, sealants, paint removers, paper coatings, leather treatments, automotive cleaners, polishes, lubricants, and silicones.

Solvair’s unique process involves the use of pressurized liquid carbon dioxide. Clothes are subjected to successive cycles of drying the using liquid CO2. The harmful greenhouse gas is sourced from other industries and put to good use in the Solvair process.

This is just one way that the Solvair machine has been designed to maximize recycling while minimizing use of energy and resources. The result is a process that is environmentally-friendly and also delivers the most effective cleaning available.