Executive Summary

This is the executive summary of the Center for Neighbohood Technolgy's final report on The Greener Cleaner project. Some material from the full report has been added where noted.

Professional cleaners are an essential part of our communities. Their services save us time and keep our clothes in top-notch condition. But growing concern that the primary solvent used to dryclean clothes, perchloroethylene (or perc), can cause health and environmental problems has spurred research on new ways to safely clean our clothes. In 1992, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) initiated a partnership with the drycleaning industry and others to address ways to reduce exposure to perc.

One alternative identified early in this process was wetcleaning, a range of techniques and technologies that use water as the primary solvent to clean clothes labeled dryclean only. Wetcleaning processes include computer-controlled washing and dry machines and professional, labor-intensive techniques which control factors, such as mechanical action and temperature, that can cause shrinkage. Recognizing the need to test wetcleaning in "real world" commercial settings, the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) launched a research project of unprecedented scale in the industry.

Through the opening of an operating 100% wetcleaning shop in Chicago, the project moved the discussion of alternatives beyond a handful of industry leaders, environmentalists and regulators to drycleaners across the country. The project also helped vault wetcleaning alternatives from a minor curiosity viewed with skepticism to a viable technology, practiced and improved upon by hundreds of cleaners.

Wetcleaning Research and Demonstration
CNT is an independent, nonprofit research and technical assistance organization with a tradition of working with industry partners to find practical solutions to environmental problems. Through funding from the USEPA, the Center for Neighborhood Technology initiated the Alternative Clothes Cleaning Demonstration Project with the goal of evaluating the performance and commercial viability of wetcleaning. The CNT research project included:

• The design, monitoring and evaluation of all aspects of a commercial shop, The Greener Cleaner, using only wetcleaning and
• Data collection at two shops relying on both water and traditional drycleaning solvents.

The Greener Cleaner Demonstration Shop
CNT partnered with a private investor to design the Greener Cleaner as an average commercial drycleaning operation in size, prices, and fabric, fiber and garment types cleaned. The difference was that all items brought in for cleaning were wetcleaned.

Working with an Advisory Committee, two tests were designed to measure performance issues on separate groups of garments.

• In the first test, CNT measured performance through customer satisfaction and through intensive evaluations of a random sample of garments cleaned at The Greener Cleaner. These intensive evaluations were conducted by independent evaluators, who inspected 460 customer garments before and after cleaning.
• The second test compared the performance of wetcleaning and drycleaning on 52 sets of three identical garments. All the test garments specified drycleaning in their care instructions and many were selected as likely "problem garments" for wetcleaning. In each set, one garment was wetcleaned, one drycleaned and the third was stored and used as the "control" to help evaluators judge the changes in the cleaned garments.

The Greener Cleaner also served as a true demonstration shop -- several hundred cleaning professionals, consumers and regulators have taken advantage of the opportunity to tour the shop during business hours, watching the wetcleaning process from start to finish and interviewing shop personnel. When The Greener Cleaner opened its doors in May, 1995, fewer than 10 cleaners were using wetcleaning equipment systems. A year later there were well over 100 cleaners with wetcleaning systems and a significant percentage of those visited The Greener Cleaner prior to making their decision.

Experiences in two "mixed" wet/dry shops
CNT also conducted research at two other commercial sites -- professional garment cleaning businesses in which a significant percentage of garments are wetcleaned and the remaining portions are cleaned in traditional drycleaning solvents.

One of these sites, Orange Blossom Garment Care, is a small shop in Florida that uses domestic washing machines to clean not only shirts but a significant percentage of customer garments labeled "dryclean." The other research site, Brix/Wagners Cleaners located in Bettendorf, Iowa, was purchased by its current owner in January 1996. The new shop owner installed a wetcleaning system to use in conjunction with a petroleum drycleaning machine.

Findings

Note: Added to the following information from the Executive Summary is some additional material from the full report. Notably, the "Recommendations" that follow each of the conclusions in the full report has been added to the summary. Also, the final two conclusion, Nos. 7 and 8, were not part of the summary but are in the full report and are included here.

While CNT's research has raised many new issues that will require further investigation, several conclusions and recommendations can be made.

1. A significant portion of garments now cleaned in traditional drycleaning solvents can safely be wetcleaned.

During its first year of operation, The Greener Cleaner wetcleaned 31,734 items brought in by customers. Of those garments, 60% were of fabric types often labeled "dryclean only" -- wool, silk, rayon and linen. A tiny fraction (0.14%) of the garments brought in for cleaning were not accepted because the cleaner felt she could not safely clean these items. The Greener Cleaner has demonstrated that virtually 100% of all garments now drycleaned can be wetcleaned to the satisfaction of customers. However, as noted below, the cost and performance problems with a portion of the total garments cleaned require further research.

During the research period, Orange Blossom Garment Cleaners wetcleaned 42% of total customer garments, laundered an additional 44% shirts and had the remaining 13% drycleaned off-site. Seventy-seven percent of the wetcleaned garments had care instructions specifying drycleaning. During the research period at Brix/Wagners Cleaners, the shop wetcleaned 44% of the total 1,846 garments cleaned.

The specific percentage of garments that can be safely and cost effectively wetcleaned depends on many variables -- everything from the climate to the training of shop employees. At a minimum, drycleaners could be cleaning the estimated 30%-40% of customer garments with care labels specifying machine wash or hand wash. With appropriate training and equipment, a cleaner could double the quantity wetcleaned to 60%-80%. Cleaners must conduct an assessment of their current operation and use the data from this and other research to set their goals for profitable wetcleaning.

Recommendations

• A simple self assessment to determine current wetcleaning capacity
• A progressive program that moves a cleaner from his/her current level of wetcleaning to the next level.
• Set goal for a minimum of 40% wetcleaning for all progressional garment cleaners by the year 2000, using equipment available in most drycleaning shops.
• Set a goal for industry leaders to maximize wetcleaning potential by achieving 60% to 80% wetcleaning by the year 2000.

2. There is strong customer demand for alternative garment cleaning methods.

Customer satisfaction is a critical measure of performance in any service industry and The Greener Cleaner scored well in satisfying customers. Two telephone surveys of a random sample of The Greener Cleaner customers were performed by an independent survey firm. Results were consistent between the two surveys:

• 86% of customers rating the shop's overall service as 'excellent" or "good" in the first survey and 87% responding positively in the second survey
• 85% of respondents in the first survey and 94% in the second said they would recommend The Greener Cleaner to a friend.

Several questions were added to the second survey to gauge customers' knowledge of and attitude toward wetcleaning. To the question, 'Why did you first take your clothes to The Greener Cleaner?" 64% cited concern about the environment as one reason.

In another measurement of customer satisfaction, shop records indicate a steadily increasing base of return customers. In September 1995, repeat customers represented 60% of total visits for the month. Six months later in April 1996, that figure was 81%.

Recommendations

• Provide professional garment cleaners who want to offer wetcleaning services with marketing strategies to build this business.
• Conduct a public education campaign to inform consumers that wetcleaning requires professional skills and that home laundering is not a substitute for wetcleaning.

3. Color loss, migration or splotchiness are not significant performance problems in wetcleaning. None of the 460 customer garments inspected at The Greener Cleaner had problems with color splotchiness. In the comparative test, wetcleaning performed better than drycleaning in color loss and migration. Evaluators noted color loss or migration in 7 of the 52 test garments that were wetcleaned and in 8 of the 52 garment that were drycleaned. Prior to the CNT tests, color performance problems were assumed to be significant for wetcleaning. This success may be attributable in part to the skill and persistence of The Greener Cleaner staff. Recommendations

• Include a careful evaluation of color loss, migration or splotchiness in future tests of wetcleaning to verify CNT findings.
• Document practices developed by The Greener Cleaner plant manager to minimize color loss, migration and splotchiness.

4. Dimensional change (shrinking and stretching) is the most significant performance problem in wetcleaning.

Careful evaluation of the random sample of customer clothes found that the majority were cleaned and finished satisfactorily, but shrinkage and stretching were problems in a notable percentage of garments. The dimensional change (shrinking and stretching) was noted in the 460 sample garments as follows:

Woven garments

62% had minimal or no shrinkage or stretching

38% had shrinkage or stretching over 2%

Knit garments

20% had minimal-or no shrinkage or stretching

80% had shrinkage or stretching over 2%

Dimensional change in the 52 sets of test garments was also greater in knits than in woven garments for both wet and drycleaned garments. Of the 39 sets of woven test garments:

20 drycleaned test garments had minimal or no shrinkage or stretching

15 wetcleaned test garments had minimal or no shrinkage or stretching

The difference in the upper ranges of shrinkage is significant. None of the drycleaned woven garments had shrinkage of 6% or greater, while five of the wetcleaned garments did.

Recommendations

Conduct further research and tests:

Verify CNT findings Identify those factors that reliable indicate which garments will undergo dimensional change. Identify factors that minimize dimensional change Test CNT procedures identified to minimize shrinkage in knits. Develop and improve cleaning equipment and chemicals to improve dimensional stability.

5. With the current state of technology, commercial operations relying on 100% wetcleaning face the challenge of maintaining cost effective, high quality performance for a small percentage of garments.

Facing the double challenge of starting a new business and developing a new technology. The Greener Cleaner struggled in its first year of operation to break even. While the shop did make a small profit for two months, the business lost $44,000 during the research year. The Greener Cleaner owner is investing in expansion of the business, opening a drop store in a more affluent community than the community where the first shop is located.

Ultimately, profitability will depend on a variety of factors, including:

• Pricing to reflect actual costs of cleaning the most difficult to clean garments
• A "mixed" approach in which the small percentage of garments that are difficult to wetclean are cleaned at traditional drycleaning facilities,
• Availability of alternative solvents to safely clean a portion of customer garments,
• Overall professionalization of the garment care industry to improve performance in both wet and drycleaning businesses.

Recommendations

• Entrepreneurs and professional cleaners considering a 100% wetcleaning shop to meet consumer demand should consider several options:
1. Appropriate pricing to reflect the 10% to 20% of garments most difficult to wetclean.
Or
2. A "mixed" approach where the substantial majority of customer garments are wetcleaned on-site and the remainder (with customer consent) are cleaned at a facility using traditional drycleaning solvents.
• Promote research on alternative solvents that can safely clean those garments that pose problems for wetcleaning while limiting the impact on the environmental and public health.
• Conduct further research on multiprocess wetcleaning to further explore its potential to supplement machine -based wetcleaning.
• Given the need for continued reliance on traditional solvents for some portion of garments cleaned, mandatory certification should be considered as a means of responsible management of these solvents and a level playing field for all professional garment cleaners.

6. Wetcleaning is safer for the environment than traditional drycleaning.

Wetcleaning does not pose any air pollution problems, is safe for workers and does not produce any hazardous waste. Because of concerns about possible environmental problems with the waste water from wetcleaning, CNT worked in partnership with the Illinois Hazardous Waste Research and Information Center and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to research the volume and quality of water discharge from The Greener Cleaner.

Lab analysis of water samples provide the following information:

• The pH of the wastewater was neutral
• The biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) was no higher than typical residential wastewater
• The phosphorus concentration was approximately one-tenth that of typical residential wastewater
• there were no significant concentrations of metals or toxic chemicals, with the exception of trichloroethylene, a chemical used in stain removing solutions, noted in one day's sample.

The Greener Cleaner used an average of 1,100 gallons of water a day. Of this, an estimated 790 gallons where used in cleaning clothes. This is an average of four to six gallons per pound of clothes cleaned. The remaining 310 gallons were used to recharge the boiler and the water softener and for generating steam for the pressing.

Recommendations

• Research on non-toxic alternative spotting (stain removing) chemicals should be conducted.
• Research on cost-effective water filtration systems to allow for significant water recycling should be conducted.

7. The factors that affect performance are often not easy to determine, even for a professional cleaner.

The data indicate that approximately 60% of the garments in each of the four major fiber types had acceptable dimensional change. Thus wetcleaning performs well for all fiber types much of the time but poses difficulties for all some of the time. Obviously, in addition to fiber, fabric and garment type, the finishes, dyes, fabric combinations and construction details also influence cleaning performance. Small adjustments in current textile and apparel manufacturing could increase the number of garments that can be safety wetcleaned.

Recommendations

The following steps will increase information ad make wetcleaning appropriate for a broader range of garments

• Develop a forum for working with textile and apparel manufacturers to inform those industries about technical issues in wetcleaning and to get professional cleaners the information they need to safety wetclean garments.
• Conduct research to identify problems that limit which garments can be wetcleaned and test possible solutions.
• Revise the federal Trade Commission care labeling rules to insure that all garments that can be safely wetcleaned are accurately labeled. Consensus within the professional; garment care industry about the recommended changes is very important.

8. Relatively small differences in cleaning and pressing methods can, in some cases, produce noticeable differences in performance. Wetcleaning requires comprehensive training and good quality control.

Recommendations

• Provide all drycleaners with access to training and follow-up technical support.
• Pool current information among those now wetcleaning to improve knowledge and practices through "peer" groups, workshops, trade publications and other open exchanges of information.

The future of wetcleaning
Wetcleaning holds tremendous promise for the garment cleaning industry, the consumer and the environment There is now broad consensus within the drycleaning industry that wetcleaning will play an important role in the future of the industry. As research continues, both in labs and in more and more shops around the country, the technology will continue to evolve and improve. But the shift to wetcleaning is not simply a technical question. Thousands of individuals and their families rely on drycleaning for their livelihood. Through this research and current training efforts, CNT is committed to ensuring all cleaners access to the wetcleaning information and resources they need to make this shift profitable.

---

Home

Date created: 97.01.11