Business & Tech

These 'Green' Dry Cleaners Misled Customers, City Says

Investigation by city attorney's office reveals Santa Monica dry cleaners use chemicals that haven't proved non-toxic.

A half-dozen dry cleaners making unsubstantiated claims about being "eco-friendly" have agreed to clean up their advertisements, city prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Prosecutors said they investigated dry cleaners across the city and found six couldn't support claims they were using "non-toxic," "safe," "environmentally safe," and "environmentally friendly" chemicals.

The businesses are: Cleaner By Nature, Courtyard Cleaners, Dry Clean Express, Eco Cleaners, Plaza Cleaners, TJ Cleaners

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

One of the dry cleaners uses a product called "Green Earth," made from a chemical known as D5. The other businesses use a hydrocarbon-based process. Both solvents are safer than "perc," a carcinogen that's being phased out of the industry, but neither has proved non-toxic to humans, according to Adam Radinsky, head of the city's consumer protection unit.

"We’re glad these companies have started using less toxic chemicals, but marketing them as 'eco-friendly' just goes too far," Dean Kubani, director of the city's office of sustainability and the environment, said in a statement.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Staffers in Kubani's office did a visual survey citywide for green claims being made at dry cleaners. The six businesses named above "are the main ones who were found to be making such claims," Radinsky said.

"None of the six businesses produced evidence to back its green claims," he said.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here