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The Drycleaning and Laundry Institute (DLI) presents its Advanced Drycleaning Course Oct. 12-Nov. 1 in Laurel, Md.

For more information, call 800-638-2627 or visit the institute's website.

The Drycleaning and Laundry Institute (DLI) will present its Introduction to Drycleaning Course Feb. 25 to March 1 in Laurel, Md. 

For more information, call 800-638-2627 or visit the institute's website.

The Drycleaning and Laundry Institute (DLI) presents its Introduction to Drycleaning Course Oct. 14-18 in Laurel, Md.

For more information, call  800-638-2627 or visit the institute's website.

FAIRFIELD, N.J., and LAUREL, Md. — The Textile Care Allied Trades Association (TCATA) and the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute (DLI) have recently strengthened cooperation between the two organizations, TCATA reports in its most recent Tidings e-mail newsletter.

The boards of directors for both organizations have discussed ways that the two groups can work more closely together for the good of the industry.

Fred Schwarzmann of A.L. Wilson Chemical Co., a DLI board member, has been appointed official liaison to the TCATA board; Kevin Lawson of Tri-State Equipment has been appointed liaison to the DLI board.

The particulars will evolve over the years, TCATA says, but members of both organizations should expect to begin seeing more information about the other’s major activities.

“Increasing the level of communication and cooperation only makes sense,” says TCATA President Bryant Dunivan, from Energenics Corp. “The two associations have always had common interests, and the challenges that the industry has faced in recent years has only increased the need for and benefit of a closer relationship.”

LAUREL, Md. — The MidAtlantic Association of Cleaners (MAC) staged its Annual Lecture and Mini-EXPO Meeting on June 2 here at the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute’s (DLI) headquarters.

The event, provided free to attendees through sponsorships from several MAC allied trades companies, included presentations by speakers, a tour of the DLI facilities, and lunch.

During the tour, DLI showcased its large classroom; residential practical training area (with 13 student spotting boards, full shirt laundry, and a dry cleaning plant with several varieties of cleaning solvents); analysis and restoration department; destructive and non-destructive fabric testing laboratory; research and solvent testing lab; media lab; board room; and course materials storage.

Brian Johnson, DLI’s director of education and analysis, spoke on Quick Fixes for Common Dry Cleaning Problems, plus explained how to navigate DLI’s dry cleaning encyclopedia online (free to DLI members).

CHICAGO — In February, after 14 years of study, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) named perchloroethylene a “likely” human carcinogen in its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. And after more than two decades of increasingly stringent regulation on the industry’s solvent of choice, the announcement seemed like the final nail in perc’s coffin.

Ironically, the decision actually protects perc’s position in dry cleaning, at least for the time being. “Everyone has the misconception that the category perc is in has changed,” says Faye Graul, executive director of the Halogenated Solvents Industry Association (HSIA). “It has not changed at all. The report says perc is safe for use in dry cleaning.”

EPA expressed no concerns about consumers wearing clothing cleaned in perc, and the IRIS report could ease the drinking-water standard required for environmental cleanups. And with a recent, recessionary lull in regulatory activity, only co-located facilities and plants in California and a few other areas see the possibility of a full phaseout ahead.

Drycleaning & Laundry Institute Advanced Drycleaning Course.

Drycleaning & Laundry Institute Cleaning & Stain Removal Course.

Drycleaning & Laundry Institute Introduction to Drycleaning Course.

LAUREL, Md. & NEW YORK — The Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI) and the National Cleaners Association (NCA) are preparing for their first-ever combined “Five-Star Brainstorming” conference in Puerto Rico in two weeks.

The Jan. 12-15 conference at the Gran Melia Resort will bring together members of both associations and offer an excellent opportunity to network and make new friends in the industry, the associations say.

Each day of the conference will feature morning seminars, leaving the rest of the day free for exploration, relaxation and conversation in a tropical paradise setting.

Some of the sessions on the agenda include:

LAUREL, Md. — The Drycleaning & Laundry Institute’s Encyclopedia is now available through DLI’s new website, dlionline.org. Annual subscriptions are available to ensure that members have the most up-to-date information at their fingertips, DLI says.

Online access makes the Encyclopedia easy to access from any computer or mobile device connected to the Internet, DLI says. The tome is also available on CD-ROM and includes the ability to install its full resources on computers that do not have Internet access, whether at the front counter or elsewhere in a plant.

The Encyclopedia includes sections on counter operations, marketing methods, shirt and laundry procedures, fabrics and fashions, health and safety, and more.

For more information, call 800-638-2627.