Beacon Switches To Using Environmentally-Friendly Solvents

Thu., June 25, 1998

By Kathy Mulady kathymu@spokesman.com

Beacon Cleaners on Northwest Boulevard is the first dry cleaner in Washington to use a new system that is gentler on the environment and possibly healthier for employees, customers and nearby neighbors.

Owner Hi Bum Kim has switched from highly monitored perchloroethylene and petroleum solvents - which cause cancer in animals and possibly people - to a new solvent called DF-2000.

He installed two new cleaning machines, each almost three times the cost of regular machines, to use the solvent.

The chemical smell often noticed by customers walking into dry cleaning businesses is missing at Beacon Cleaners.

“Mr. Kim has gone above and beyond our regulatory requirements,” said April Miller, environmental engineer with Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority.

Beacon Cleaners is highlighted in the SCAPCA summer newsletter.

Rolfe Parsloe, a toxic reduction specialist with the state Department of Ecology, said the new system is better for consumers.

“When customers get home and open the plastic bag that protects their clothes, the solvent evaporates off the clothes and into their homes. This new solvent is safer for them to breathe than the traditionally used solvent,” said Parsloe.

Dry cleaners using the regular petroleum solvents must meet stringent air quality and hazardous waste regulations because of the health dangers.

Miller said the new DF-2000 is not a carcinogen, contains almost no hazardous air pollutants, is not a hazardous waste material and doesn’t require labeling by OSHA for toxicity.

Kim is having waste from his machines tested to see if it can be disposed of as a non-hazardous material. Hazardous waste disposal is one of the biggest expenses for dry cleaners.

Kim said the new solvent cleans better and is gentler on fabrics.

“He is very concerned about his employees and their exposure to harmful chemicals,” Miller said. Since Kim’s new plant is also near housing, he was concerned about the neighborhood.

“I think he is an environmentally conscious person,” Miller said.

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