San Diego Dry Cleaner Sets Eco-Friendly Trend

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published February 8, 2007 at 11:20 AM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

California has banned the most common chemical solvent used by dry cleaners. The new regulation means several thousand of the state's dry cleaners will have to find other methods to clean clothes. KPB

California has banned the most common chemical solvent used by dry cleaners. The new regulation means several thousand of the state's dry cleaners will have to find other methods to clean clothes. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce tells us about a San Diego dry cleaning company that already has made the shift to an environmentally-friendly system.

The California Dry Cleaners Association says banning the toxic solvent perchloroethylene or perc, could drive many operations out of business. Nearly 70-percent of the state's dry cleaners use perc. State health officials say the chemical causes cancer. Starting next year, the state's 3,400 dry cleaners won't be able to buy machines that use the solvent. One San Diego dry cleaner already uses an alternative method to clean clothes. Gordon Shaw's stores use an eco-friendly liquid carbon dioxide cleaning system.

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Shaw: I chose to put myself on this path figuring that at some point the industry was going to go this way and this would give me that much of a lead. And, yeah, it's sort of validation that I picked the right course for my business.

The perc machines are completely banned by 2023. Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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