Eco friendly dry cleaning in Boston is a phrase almost every cleaner uses now, which is exactly why it’s worth asking what sits behind it. Our family has run this business since 1944. We stopped using perchloroethylene, the cleaning agent the trade calls perc, more than twenty years ago, back when nobody was making us.
The rules caught up in December 2024. The EPA’s final rule on perc bars it from any dry cleaning machine acquired after June 16, 2025, takes it out of the older third-generation machines after December 20, 2027, and ends its use in dry cleaning altogether after December 19, 2034. Plenty of cleaners are working through that changeover now. We finished ours about two decades early.
What makes dry cleaning eco friendly?
It comes down to what your clothes are cleaned in and what happens to that solution afterward. A cleaner that has moved off perc, recycles what it cleans with, and runs efficient equipment has covered most of it.
The rest varies a lot from shop to shop. Some cleaners advertise green cleaning and mean they keep one alternative machine for delicate items. Others rebuilt the whole plant around it. There’s no sign on the door telling you which is which, so it’s a fair thing to ask at the counter.
Massachusetts has been moving this way for a long time. State health data shows perc use here has fallen sharply since 1990, driven by tighter rules and a better understanding of the risks. The same page notes it still turns up in groundwater in places, because of how it was handled decades ago. That’s the part that stays with you when you run a plant.
How eco friendly dry cleaning in Boston works at our plant
We clean with GreenEarth® technology. It’s a silicone-based cleaning solution that breaks down naturally into sand, water and carbon dioxide. GreenEarth has been at this for more than 25 years and licenses the system to cleaners in over 40 countries. It’s pure, gentle on clothes and on skin, non-allergenic, and completely odor-free.
Not everything goes through the same process. Depending on the garment we also use Eco-Solv, wet cleaning with biodegradable soap, and hand cleaning. A silk blouse and a wool overcoat don’t want the same treatment, and matching the method to the fabric is most of the craft.
Our machines maintain and recycle the cleaning solution instead of discarding it, so we use less of it and less energy running it. We also put in LED lighting and high-efficiency steam traps. That work is why the Mayor of Boston’s office gave us the Greenovate Award. Greenovate is the City program that carries Boston’s Climate Action Plan into neighborhoods, with a stated aim of a prepared, efficient, mobile, zero waste and connected city.
Does it actually get clothes clean?
Yes, and it’s easier on the garment. GreenEarth is gentler on fibers and on color than the older method, which matters most on the things you keep longest.
What customers mention first is the smell, or the lack of one. Clothes come back fresh and scent-free rather than carrying that faint odor people associate with the dry cleaner. Soap, heat and steam do the disinfecting and sanitizing. Nothing is left in the fabric to announce itself when you open the closet a week later.
What happens around the cleaning
The cleaning is one part of it. We run recycling and reuse programs for hangers and plastic garment bags, and we hand out hanger carriers so bringing them back is easy. Most people end up returning a bundle every few weeks.
Wedding gowns work a little differently again. We’re members of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists, and we partnered with Carbonfund.org, which calculated the carbon dioxide our Museum Care™ gown cleaning and preservation produces and set a donation that offsets it. We call it Zero Carbon Wedding Gown Preservation.
There’s more detail than a blog post can hold on our green dry cleaning page, which covers EarthCare Cleaning Systems® properly.
Where to find us in Boston
Our Back Bay store is at 110 Newbury Street. We have twelve stores across Greater Boston and the South Shore. If you’re in that part of the city, we wrote a longer piece on dry cleaning in Back Bay that covers the neighborhood end of things.
If getting to a store is awkward, free home and office pickup and delivery covers the same area, with no minimum order. Everything that comes in through delivery is cleaned exactly the way everything that comes through the door is. You can see the full list of our locations, or read the service detail on laundry and dry cleaning.
Common questions
Is eco friendly dry cleaning a separate service here?
No. GreenEarth is how we clean, so it’s what a normal order gets. There’s no green tier to opt into.
Will my clothes smell of anything when I get them back?
No. The process is 100% odor-free, and it’s the change most people notice first.
Is perc still legal in Massachusetts?
For now, on a schedule. The EPA’s December 2024 rule already bars perc from dry cleaning machines acquired after June 16, 2025, phases out the older machine types first, and ends the use entirely after December 19, 2034. The agency reopened the rule for public comment in 2025 and is reconsidering parts of it, so some dates may move. None of it changes anything here.
Can a wedding gown be cleaned this way?
Yes. Gowns go through our Museum Care™ process, and the carbon dioxide it produces is offset through Carbonfund.org.
How do I know what my current cleaner uses?
Ask them what they clean in. Any cleaner should be able to answer, and it’ll usually be perc, a hydrocarbon, GreenEarth, or wet cleaning.