Premium dry cleaning · Non-toxic

What non-toxic dry cleaning actually means

The claim affects you and your family’s health, and you should care about why. Here is what the term refers to, what the regulators have actually said, and what dryGo does.

The solvent the category was built on

Dry cleaning does not use water. It uses a solvent, and for most of the last century that solvent was perchloroethylene, usually shortened to perc and also written tetrachloroethylene or PCE. It cleans well, which is why it became the standard.

It is also the one regulators have written rules about. Environment and Climate Change Canada lists tetrachloroethylene on Schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, the List of Toxic Substances. Its use in dry cleaning specifically is governed by the Tetrachloroethylene (Use in Dry Cleaning and Reporting Requirements) Regulations, SOR/2003-79.

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency finalised a risk management rule for PCE under the Toxic Substances Control Act in December 2024. It sets out a ten-year phase-out of PCE in dry cleaning, on health findings the agency summarises as damage to the kidney, liver and immune system, neurotoxicity and reproductive toxicity. That rule is in effect, and EPA has been reconsidering parts of it since 2025, including some compliance dates, so the timeline may yet move.

Those are the regulators’ words and findings, linked so you can read them yourself rather than take ours for it. We are a dry cleaner, not a health authority, and we will not tell you what any of it means for you personally.

What dryGo does

We clean without perc, and without other chlorinated solvents, to ensure the longevity of the garments and the people sending them in.

A note on “eco-friendly” and “green”

Those two words get used a great deal in this industry, and neither has an agreed definition behind it. Solvents marketed as eco-friendly or green vary widely in what is actually being claimed: sometimes the solvent itself, sometimes the machine, sometimes the waste handling, and sometimes nothing in particular.

That is why we do not use either word about ourselves. “Without perc” names a specific substance and can be checked, which is the only reason it is worth saying. If a cleaner tells you their process is green, the useful follow-up is which solvent they use.

Common questions

Is dry cleaning toxic?

It depends entirely on the solvent. Conventional dry cleaning was built on perchloroethylene, known as perc, which Canada lists as a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and regulates specifically in dry cleaning. Other solvents are not perc and are not regulated as it is. dryGo cleans without perc or any other chlorinated solvent.

What is perc?

Perchloroethylene, also written tetrachloroethylene or PCE, is a chlorinated solvent that has been the standard dry cleaning solvent since the middle of the last century. It cleans well, which is why it lasted, and it is the substance both Canadian and American regulators have written rules about.

What does perc-free mean?

That the cleaning is done without perchloroethylene. It is a statement about one specific solvent, which is what makes it checkable. It does not by itself tell you what solvent was used instead, which is why we say non-toxic as well: we clean without perc and without other chlorinated solvents.

Does non-toxic cleaning work as well?

Yes, and we would not offer it otherwise. Our pieces are counted, cleaned, pressed and bagged to the same standard whatever the solvent question, and if something does not come back right we reclean it.

What does dryGo use?

We clean without perc and without other chlorinated solvents. If you want the specifics for a particular piece, ask us when you book and we will tell you how it will be handled.

Sources

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