Most of the time, they employ liquid chemicals to rid garments and drapes of dirt and stains. It's these liquid chemicals that draw the interest of the federal government and the strict regulations that govern the use and disposal of these chemicals.
Cleaners use the solvent tetrachloroethylene, also called perchloroethylene or perc.
Almost all of the chemicals used in dry cleaning are recycled, but the process creates byproduct from the cleaned clothes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers this too dangerous to pour down the drain or discard in landfills. Not only do several federal laws regulate how perc and dry cleaning byproducts are disposed, individual state mandates can regulate this as well. Due to heavy regulations and guidelines set by Pennsylvania, we had to remove them and buy a new cleaning machine with the storage tanks in it. It was a huge expense.