Saturday, January 3, 2009

Hang Up Your Coat

Recycling is more than tossing your cans and jars in a curbside recycling bin. There are lots of opportunities to recycle and reuse (therefore reducing..wink...wink) in your very own neighborhood.

Take dry cleaning for example.

Dry cleaning your clothes isn't a very environmentally friendly option for cleaning your clothes. Tons of nasty chemicals are used in the process. These chemicals find their way into our water and air casuing birth defects and cancers. Beating your dirty clothes on a rock while using a phosphate-free soap would be a better option. (Does anyone have a spare rock?)

To be realistic, sometimes dry cleaning is a necessary evil in my family. Take the fact that I've got a hubby who occasionally has to wear a suit and pair that with my complete inability to figure out how to clean those suits. Mix them together and that equals a trip to the neighborhood dry cleaner now and then.


My dry cleaner is similar to others who might be in your neighborhood. While not outwardly green, they are making small steps iu the right direction. Most cleaners will happily accept your used wire hangers and plastic bags back for reuse. My local company will even pay it's customers $2 for every package of hangers they return. Oh, how I love saving money!




Next time you must use the dry cleaners, grab your hangers and plastic bags to return to the store. Keep additional trash out of the landfills and help your neighborhood dry cleaning company save money. You've got to love a win-win situation!

2 comments:

Austin Cleaners said...

Hi Gruppie Girl!
My name is Adam Dartez and I own a green dry cleaner in Austin Texas (Austin Cleaners). If your readers aren't convinced of the impact recycling wire hangers could have try this stat on for size:
"Americans use 3.5 billion hangers a year. That's enough to steel to produce 60,000 cars! You can read our blog for more green tips www.austincleaners.net

Gruppie Girl said...

Adam~ That is a shocking figure! Thank you for posting that information.