Have you ever picked up dry cleaning and felt astounded at the amount of plastic used to cover each clothing item? Every year 300 million pounds of single use plastic dry-cleaning bags are dumped into landfills!! This plastic does not break down for decades, can leach toxic chemicals into the soil, and get blown out of landfills where it can harm marine and wildlife. Cities around the U.S. have already started to ban single use plastic bags, so why not ban plastic dry cleaning bags??
My Green Garmento bag, is a reusable garment bag made from recyclable and water resistant materials. This bag is handy for travel and can significantly reduce our plastic waste footprint. You might have to do some explaining to your dry cleaners about what it’s for and why. You also might need to watch them with eagle eyes, seriously. When I first started using the garment bag the dry cleaners continued to put plastic on the items inside the bag or would toss the plastic before the pick up.
It might take some educating but in the end it saves them tons of money. If your dry cleaning company just isn’t with it, contact Green Garmento for advice and potential alternative cleaners in your area who are more open to being eco- they’re super helpful.
Regarding hangers, most dry cleaners re-use them so please bring them back when you return. Ask your dry cleaner about this and encourage reusing them!

Do you have a reusable garment bag? Has your dry cleaner been open to using it? What other ways can we reduce our footprint when dry cleaning?
 
Photo Credit: A Mom Less Ordinary