The Greening of Dry Cleaning

I’m enjoying the fourth day of my stay here in beautiful Panama City, Panama where I’m speaking at the Sovereign Society’s Total Wealth Symposium. But one very BIG part of traveling that I most definitely DO NOT enjoy is the task of packing and unpacking a week’s worth of suits, shirts, ties, etc.

It’s funny – I always dutifully take my dress shirts and slacks to my friendly neighborhood dry cleaner – at least a week before I depart. Get everything cleaned and starched – then pack it all in my travel bag for the trip. Of course when I arrive at the hotel on the other end of my journey, and it’s time to unpack – and my clothes are totally wrinkled again. So it’s off to the hotel laundry for another quick press.

As such, business travel means big business for dry cleaners everywhere.  But the downside to dry cleaning is the amount of environmentally unfriendly chemicals used in the process. Today however, the dry cleaning industry is going green!

Most friendly neighborhood dry-cleaners use the chemical perchlorethylene (or Perc) to perk up the appearance of your garments. But Perc is environmentally unfriendly. In California, legislation will phase-out the use of this chemical over the next few years.

The green revolution’s impact on dry cleaners is making it more expensive to do business. Some cleaners will need to upgrade to new machinery in addition to making the switch to cleaner chemicals.

The only alternative to new machinery and chemicals is to make a switch in the fundamental method of cleaning – the so called “wet cleaning” process, which is more labor intensive than traditional dry cleaning. And it’s not just California; the Washington DC is likewise tightened regulations on the use of Perc.

So either way, it looks like our dry cleaning bills will be heading higher – another sign of creeping inflation – that hasn’t made it’s way into the “official” stats yet. And I guess I’ll be doing a lot more late-night hotel room ironing!