Cleaning Up Your Dry Cleaning with The Green Garmento!

We all have to do it…gather up dirty “dry clean only” garments and head off to the neighborhood cleaners every week or so.  To help you clean up your dry cleaning dilemma, here’s a hit list of things to consider:

• Perchloroethylene or PERC – While organic cleaners are not on every corner just yet, be aware of the associated risks with PERC, the major cleaning solvent which is now considered a “likely human carcinogen”.
• Process – Don’t be shy.  Ask your cleaner about their process for cleaning.  Do they use a wet or CO2 technology which is safer than PERC?  Check this directory to see if you have an eco-friendly cleaner in your neighborhood.
• Hangers - Hang on to those hangers and return back to the cleaners.
• Plastic bags – Did you know that 300 million pounds of single-use plastic dry cleaning  bags end up in the landfill every year?  Did you also know they can be recycled along with the plastic shopping bags?  Consider adding that to your recycle list.

Green Garmento

Better yet, invest in your own dry clean garment bag to avoid the plastic mess altogether.  The Green Garmento is a winner!  I purchased one to try out from The Ultimate Green Store for $9.99 and it’s absolutely great.  The bag fits nicely in the hamper to collect your clothes so all you need to do is pull out and you are bagged and ready to drop off.  Then it converts to the garment bag upon pick up.  There is a plastic sleeve on the front for an ID tag and I also have instructions on how to use the bag.  What a relief not to have to unwrap and deal with the plastic.  Best of all, my dry cleaner loves the bag too!

Though my dry cleaning, and perhaps yours as well, will never totally go away, we can strive to purchase clothes that do not require dry cleaning in the first place.  And for those items that do, at least we can be a little cleaner in the process.

So clean up your dry cleaning and enjoy!

For your chance to win a Green Garmento:

Note: To be eligible you must be a Modern Hippie Mag subscriber receiving our updates via email, or RSS, Facebook fan, and/or Twitter follower (tell us your Twitter name in your comment below).

1. In a comment below choose your color – blue or green.
2. Follow The Green Garmento on Twitter, @GreenGarmento
3. Follow me on Twitter, @greensamaritan.
4. Fan The Green Samaritan on Facebook.
5. Tweet this: {Giveaway} Clean up your Dry Cleaning! http://ow.ly/1WGSd #garmento @modernhippiemag
   

More details:

• Open to U.S. entrants only.
• Recipients chosen at random using Random.org.
• Won something in the last thirty days? Last month’s winners are ineligible for this giveaway.
• Giveaway ends 12 midnight EST on Wednesday, June 23rd 2010. Winner will be announced on Thursday, June 24th, 2010.
• Winner will be contacted via email and/or Twitter. You will have 48 hours to respond at which time another winner will be randomly chosen.

Jeanne Blaisdell

Jeanne Blaisdell publishes TheGreenSamaritan.com, her personal blog highlighting green living tips and information in order to help herself and others on their journey towards greater environmental awareness. She has also launched EcoAvenueLtd.com, an online shopping site featuring the latest deals and promotions from a collection of earth-friendly merchants. Jeanne lives in Greensboro, North Carolina with her husband Tom and two boys, Jack (10) and Ben (7). You can follow her @GreenSamaritan and @EcoAvenueltd.