Medford cleaners receives grant for new technology
The following is a press release from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell:
The Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) at the University of Massachusetts Lowell awarded Best Neighborhood Cleaners of Medford an $18,000 grant to discontinue the use of perchloroethylene and demonstrate wet cleaning technology to other dry cleaners.
The grant helped fund the purchase and installation of wet cleaning equipment, a safer alternative to using perchloroethylene, that allows “dry-clean-only” clothes to be washed with water and detergents in computer-controlled machines and then finished with tensioning and pressing equipment. The cleaner had previously sent all garments off site to be cleaned at a shop that uses perchloroethylene, or “perc,” a solvent widely used in garment cleaning that is classified as a probable human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Thuy Nguyen, owner of Best Neighborhood Cleaners, installed the washer, dryer, and tensioning equipment this summer at 570 High St. in Medford, received training on the new equipment and now is able to process all garments in house using only the wet cleaning technology. He will be holding four demonstration events to showcase the new technology to other dry cleaners between now and June. The first two are Wednesday, Nov. 18 and Thursday, Dec. 10 from 4 to 6 p.m. The next two events will be scheduled for spring 2010. All dry cleaners are invited to attend as well as interested public, space permitting.
“I am very happy to be using this equipment in my shop instead of sending clothes out to be cleaned in perc,” said Nguyen. “I operated two perc facilities in the past, and this technology is much safer for me and my staff, my customers and the community.”
Best Neighborhood Cleaners will collect cost and performance data so that TURI can analyze the information and use it to encourage other cleaners to convert to wet cleaning before regulatory pressures increase. Massachusetts has recently designated perc as a Higher Hazard Substance under the Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA), bringing some dry cleaners under the purview of TURA reporting and planning requirements.
TURI helped to convert the first dedicated wet cleaner in Massachusetts from perc last year – Silver Hanger Cleaners in Bellingham. Nguyen was one of the attendees at a demonstration event held at that business and decided it was a worthwhile investment for his own shop.
“We’re excited that the diffusion of this technology is starting to take hold in Massachusetts,” said Joy Onasch, TURI community program manager, “California has converted more than 100 facilities to dedicated wet cleaning and we’d like to catch up to them, even if it is one cleaner at a time.”
Anyone interested in attending a demonstration event, should contact Onasch at 978-934-4343 or joy@turi.org.
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