sf greenclean

It isn't very often I need to have clothes dry cleaned. Seems like an annual occurrence, sometime after the Memorial Day wedding season (see my post from last year, when I had the same exact clothes cleaned). As I wrote about then, I found some cleaners in my area that have better alternative processes.

Not only that, I seem to have found the coolest dry cleaner on earth. Seriously.

SF GreenClean not only uses safer cleaning practices to meticulously care for your clothes, they go a few steps further. They invested in reusable wooden hangers and reusable garment bags instead of using all that plastic and wire hangers (which cannot be recycled).

They also are willing to make it a no-brainer to choose them by offering free pick up and delivery, in their Prius, of course.

The other cool thing (and I don't know if this is green exactly...maybe because it saves paper?) that they offer is online account management. Each of your clothing articles has a digital "mug shot" taken and is uploaded to a website where you can track your orders, make payment and schedule delivery.

If you're in San Francisco, I suggest giving them a try. For those of you not in the area, SF GreenClean has really addressed many levels of their environmental impact. They call it a revolution:

"A staggering 98% of all dry cleaners in the United States use petroleum, siloxane, or perchloroethylene, all of which are hazardous pollutants. If the personal health effects and environmental impact of dry cleaning weren't bad enough, consider that every year, 1 billion metal hangers and 25 million pounds of plastic bags end up in landfills across the county. SF GreenClean is cleaning up the industry with its proprietary "Environmentally Sustainable Multi-process Wetcleaning", a revolutionary process that combines recyclable garment packaging, state-of-the-art equipment, and environmentally tested, biodegradable soaps to keep you and the planet clean."

Hopefully their success will inspire other companies—in any industry—to do the same.