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Colorado Mountain Cleaners receives environmental award from EPA’s regional administrator

Release Date: 01/10/2006
Contact Information: Mary Downs 303-312-7047 Frank Montarelli 303-312-6780

DENVER – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 8 Administrator Robert E. Roberts today presented Colorado Mountain Cleaners of Silverthorne, Colo. with EPA’s Environmental Achievement Award.

Colorado Mountain Cleaners earned the award through its use of the GreenEarth® cleaning process, which is friendly to the environment, rather than the traditional method of dry cleaning using the chemical perchloroethylene, which often has negative effects upon the environment.

Roberts said, “It is a pleasure to recognize the initiative undertaken by Tom Rowland, a Colorado entrepreneur, who, with his partner Don Parks, chose to invest in their company in a way that would be profitable and help protect human health and the environment. Their actions at Colorado Mountain Cleaners have set the standard for others to follow.”

Rowland and his partner, the owners of Colorado Mountain Cleaners, decided to open this dry cleaning business in Silverthorne using the GreenEarth Cleaning process. Their efforts apply directly to the Pollution Prevention Act because pollution is prevented with the use of GreenEarth,® instead of perchloroethylene, and their conversion of a machine that normally uses perchloroethylene to GreenEarth helps reduce the use of perchloroethylene.

In 2004 Colorado Mountain Cleaners was awarded a Colorado Environmental Leadership Program silver award from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, “For making decisions that result in significant benefits to the environment and to the citizens of Colorado.” In April 2005 Colorado Mountain Cleaners received the Drycleaner of the Year Award – 2005 from the Rocky Mountain Fabricare Association (an affiliate of the International Fabricare Institute) for the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.

GreenEarth® uses a modified liquid silicone similar to the base ingredients used in underarm deodorant, shaving creams and cosmetics. It degrades to sand, water and carbon dioxide and is listed by EPA as a substitute for ozone-depleting chemicals.

GreenEarth® has no known or expected health issues to the workers who use this product. It requires no special handling or special permits and is non-toxic whether contact is oral, dermal or from inhalation. The byproduct of the cleaning operation is so benign that Colorado Mountain Cleaners is permitted to place the material in containers and take it to a landfill.

Colorado Mountain Cleaners is one of the first companies in Colorado and the only company in the mountain region of Colorado to utilize the GreenEarth® cleaning system.

EPA Region 8 presents awards in four categories to individuals and groups external to the regional office. This award recognizes significant achievements in protection of public health or the environment, or in advancing the Agency’s current strategic goals. Among the criteria is an outstanding contribution to environmental protection through a single action, or by an ongoing action over an appreciable period of time.