Thought for the Day!

Oregon Dry Cleaners Assoication

January 2007




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News from the Oregon Dry Cleaners Association )
Greetings! July 2007
In This Issue
  • A Message From President Scott McClure. . .
  • DEQ Advisory Committee meeting by Gary Campbell
  • Interesting Links from Around the Globe.....

    		•

    From the Editor's Laptop...

    Back on April 28th, a few forward thinking dry cleaners sat in a computer class taught by our own Leslie Kettenhofen.  She explained the importance of always reading those little pop-up screens and to not just click "Yes" or "No", assuming we know what they mean.  Well so much for that lesson.  Yours truly finished the newsletter and was ready to send it out for proofing when one of those little screens popped up.  Sure enough, I "assumed" it was asking me if I wanted to save my work when in fact it asked if I wanted to bring up the original from the disc.

     

    I said "Yes".  That was the wrong answer.  So here I am, rewriting my section of the newsletter. I like to think that I'm a forward thinking kind of person; it's just that sometimes I go about it in a backward way.  This, of course, is the perfect intro to my comments this month.

     

    We are all familiar with the expression, "Never say never".  It seems the older I get, the more I realize it myself.  With that in mind, I have begun the process of searching for an alternative solvent.  Don't get me wrong.  I love PERC.  It's been very good to me for many years and I firmly believe that, when used properly, it is an extremely safe product.  So why am I shopping?  That's not an easy question to answer, but I'll try.

     

    If you will recall, at convention last year, Nora Nealis from the NCA explained that it wouldn't be the regulators who determine what solvent we use in the future.  It won't even be our landlords.  The solvent we use will be determined by our customers.  I didn't pay much attention when she said.  Most customers are unaware and uninterested in how their clothes are cleaned.  Or at least they were.  But now, with the constant media frenzy for ratings, PERC is regularly under attack and the seeds of doubt are being placed in our customers minds.  I can show them all manner of scientific documents and my environmental certification, but even that is becoming suspect. 

     

    So while I have said I would never give up using PERC, at least not as long as it's available, I find myself investigating alternatives.

     

    Here's what I've learned so far.  My first choice would be to keep my PERC machine.  It's a very nice Permac.  It's less than ten years old and I believe it has plenty of life left in it.  The problem is all the alternatives require a different type of machine with the exception of DrySolv.  This is said to work in any PERC machine and remove the cleaner from the regulatory burden.  It's true it's unregulated but I don't think that will last for long.  I've read the MSDS and my guess is this product will ultimately be regulated as much, if not more, than PERC.  It also doesn't have a very long track record yet but I love, that for a relatively small investment, I can be out from under PERC.  This may just be a short lived solution though. I want to talk to a few people who use it and DEQ before I get to optimistic. 

     

    Let's not even talk about CO2 and the new Streets system.  Both are so expensive they are out of reach of the average cleaner.

     

    Next on the list is GreenEarth.  This promises to be a viable option.  I know people who use it and are very happy with it.  I also know people who used it and switched for various reasons.  I do have a problem with the annual fee and I will have to crunch some numbers to see if it's practical.

     

    The other option is hydrocarbon.  I remember when I bought my Permac that I went running from this product.  I knew so many cleaners who were having problems with odor cause by bacteria in the system.  The solvent can be pretty unforgiving in that regard.  But I see design changes in the equipment have dealt with that problem so long as you keep up on your maintenance.  I am particularly intrigued with the new Ipura hydrocarbon system.  It's a radical concept but the people I've spoken with so far swear by it.  I like the low maintenance, ease of operation, no need for a boiler connection, greatly reduced waste and speedy cycles. 

     

    I'm not sure that I will actually make any changes but I think it's wise for each of us to know our options.  I also can't help wondering; if hydrocarbon had been the dominant solvent for so many years would I now be looking at PERC as the environmental alternative? 

    While you're reading this, I will be vacationing with family deep in the heart of Texas.  This year it's my turn to go there.  I'll spend some of the time in Fort Worth and some in San Antonio, a city I've never seen.  Everyone says, "Do the river walk".  So I plan on playing tourist and doing just that.  Yes, I know it's hot down there, but there are no spots, no presses, and no solvents to think about for an entire week.  For that, I would go to the Sahara!

     

    Have a great Independence Day and stay safe!


    Brian Olson CED, Director, District 1 - Newsletter Editor

    		A Message From President Scott McClure. . .

    Here we are half way through the year and a lot has happened in the dry cleaning industry in Oregon and nationwide.

    In Oregon, we have been able, up to this point, to protect our rights to continue to use PERC as a cleaning solvent and fight negative news by being proactive and protecting all dry cleaners.  This has been accomplished by the ODCA.  Lets review what the association has done for you in the past year.

    First, we gave testimony to DEQ's Air Toxics Scientific Committee and were successful in getting them to leave the ambient benchmark for PERC where it was and to list it based on its non-carcinogen status, removing the halo of us using cancer causing cleaning solvents.  Secondly, when a piece by KATU aired that was full of misrepresentations about PERC we were able to produce a fact sheet to answer a lot of the questions that might be posed to you and after a meeting with Anna Song, the reporter for KATU, we were able to persuade them to take down the videos from their website to keep more of the public from getting a negative perception of our industry.  While the KATU news piece was getting ready to air, the City of Portland issued a directive to all city employees and along with Multnomah County, under the Joint Sustainability Directive, made a determination that no contracts would be entered into with cleaners that use PERC.  They then posted a sheet on their website titled "Un-PERC Your Clothes", telling consumers to use only wet-cleaners or alternative solvent cleaners, and then, only sparingly.  After our meeting with them, we were able to convince them to remove the web page and are currently working with then to produce a piece that is fair in content and lets the consumer make an educated decision about the cleaner they want to do business with.

    So all of this is leading to what I believe dry cleaners face in the future in Oregon and elsewhere.  While at the Clean Show in Vegas, I had the opportunity to talk to cleaners from Kansas, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Tennessee, Massachusetts and others and I heard the same thing coming from all of them.  PERC was under attack and most of them were looking to the future of alternatives just to get away from regulations and negative perceptions.  They also believe that PERC would eventually be banned in their states.  In Oregon we will continue to fight this battle but I believe that forward thinkers in this profession will be looking at alternatives for the answers to regulatory issues.

    What alternatives are best?  That is best left up to the individual but this is what I observed at the Clean Show.  Absent were displays for Rynex and CO2.  Streets set up a display for their new "Solvair" system but it was not running.  Equipment costs for this were north of $100,000.00 and the spotting chemicals were exclusive to them.  Dry Solv had a booth but I didn't see much activity and Green Earth also was present along with the Wet Cleaning industry.  This brings me to the question, which is best and has the long-term stability that we need in this industry to combat environmental and health concerns while still cleaning garments in an effective way?

    Personally, I operate or am involved in plants that run both Green Earth and PERC and the positives and negatives as far as cleaning capability for each are about equal.   I encourage all dry cleaners to investigate the different cleaning methods and decide which one suits your needs best because I think change is going to come whether you want it or not.

    I look forward to your comments.

    		DEQ Advisory Committee meeting by Gary Campbell

    The Oregon DEQ Dry Cleaner Advisory Committee met for an abbreviated meeting on June 5, 2007.  The ODCA was represented by long time committee members Steve Young (Plaza Cleaners), Portland) and Gary Campbell (Campbell's Cleaners, Corvallis).

    The primary purpose of the meeting was to update the committee on the status of the Dry Cleaner Program.  Perhaps of greatest interest to the committee was a spread sheet prepared by the DEQ listing each reporting dry cleaning plant (by number, not name) along with their reported three year PERC purchases, fees paid, and hazardous waste generated.  Looking at numbers such as revenue generated per gallon of PERC purchased, on had to wonder where some plants got their PERC and how others generated so little income on the PERC they purchased.  The information presented to the committee appeared to pretty clearly identify those plants who should expect an audit in the near future.

    Also of interest were some of the statistics provided.  For example:

      • Three hundred (300) annual report packets were mailed to dry cleaning plants for 2007. 281 have been returned, 19 have not responded, and 14 facilities report being closed.
      • One hundred fifteen (115) packets were mailed to dry stores - 106 have been returned, 9 failed to respond, and 9 facilities reported being closed.
      • From the returns, twenty five (25) have been referred to Air Quality (AQ) for various violations (many for failing to submit monitoring logs as required) and five (5) were referred to Hazardous Waste (HW) for follow-up.
      • Of the 418 facilities (including inactive sites) owing fees for 2007, 406 have paid in full while 12 have not paid and are being referred to the Department of Revenue (DOR) for collection.
      • The DEQ is projecting $705,000 revenue for 2007 from the Dry Cleaner Program.
      • Eighteen (18) sites are budgeted for remediation efforts in 2007.
      • Ten (10) relatively low priority sites have applied to the program and are in the queue awaiting funding.

    The next meeting will be scheduled in late summer/early fall to discuss the results of the audits several plants can soon expect.  meanwhile, your committee strongly suggests you review your records and be prepared to justify/explain the numbers you've submitted on your annual reports.  Don't hesitate to contact one of your committee members if you have any questions or concerns.

    		Interesting Links from Around the Globe.....

    By now we've all heard the conclusion to the 54 Million Dollar Pant story. Check out these reports from the UK. Reuters has a pretty clear picture of the story but the Telegraph seems to have missed the mark completely and is more interested in bashing cleaners than reporting the real issue. Interesting reading.

    A little closer to home, check out the Ridiculopathy Daily for a more humorous take on the subject.

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