Apparel

Is your “nontoxic” dry cleaner lying to you? A new scorecard slams most “green” cleaners as “greenwash.”

June 11, 2015

org dry cleanerWith all the “organic,” “eco-friendly” and “nontoxic” claims hanging in dry cleaner windows you’d think you were taking your dress shirt to Whole Foods to have it laundered with baking soda and organic corn starch. Alas, that ain’t the case. A new scorecord from not-for-profit Toronto Environmental Alliance ranks all sorts of dry cleaning chemicals and let me tell you, things aren’t looking good for most “green” cleaners. In fact, the majority are guilty of “greenwash” (which, by the way, doesn’t mean they’re washing your threads with green cleaners).

Time to put the question do your local dry cleaner: which chemicals do you use to get my clothes clean?

Dry cleaner scorecard

Looks like it’s time to google your nearest wet cleaner.

If you live in Toronto, fill out the scorecard, take a pic and email it wetclean@torontoenvironment.org. or head here more details.

For more dirty details on various dry cleaning methods, check out my Ecoholic dry cleaning guide in NOW Magazine.