How Eco-Friendly are the Cleaners?

This week's WhiteFence green tip is about the clothes we wear every day. Sure, we try not to waste water or attempt to conserve energy when we can, but have you thought about the chemicals that go into your daily threads?

While many people turn to dry cleaning to save time from washing and drying at home or because the outfit in questions calls for it, this could have potentially harmful effects on the environment. One of the main agents in dry cleaning is known as perchloroethylene (or simply perc). The thing that makes perc so unsavory is that it has been linked to some pretty seriously health concerns, with reports such as headaches, cancer, nausea, liver problems and more. Can you imagine what this chemical could do to the environment over time?

There are a few ways to get around this. The first would be to only purchase clothes that don't need to be dry cleaned. This would cut down on the amount of perc that is used everyday. Another option would be to wash the clothes that require dry cleaning by hand or to set your washing machine to a gentle cycle of some kind. Since millions of pounds of perc are currently released into the air each year, every little step away from it would be potentially helpful to our environment.