Welcome to the Boulder Cleaners News- our monthly newsletter to support your household with timely knowledge on maintaining your favorite clothes and other items.

Dry Cleaning Certifications: What Does it Mean For You?

When dropping your clothes off at your dry cleaners, maybe you’ve noticed a decal attached to your cleaner’s store window stating that he or she is a Certified Environmental Drycleaner. Have you ever wondered what that means?

Certified Environmental Drycleaner – On Premises

The International Fabricare Institute (IFI), the world-wide trade association of drycleaners and launderers, promotes the environmentally safe operation of drycleaning establishments by formally recognizing individuals who fulfill a predetermined set of requirements. Successful candidates earn the right to use the title “Certified Environmental Drycleaner” (CED).

What is a Certified Environmental Drycleaner (CED)?

To become a CED, an individual must pass a robust examination. The drycleaner is tested on various environmental topics, including environmental regulation, proper waste handling, occupational safety and health, safe operation of drycleaning equipment, and other Federal regulatory requirements. To keep knowledge current, all CEDs must be recertified every three years.

Why IFI Believes in Environmental Certification

IFI’s Certified Environmental Drycleaner program is designed to benefit drycleaners, their customers, and their communities. This program focuses on drycleaners’ awareness of environmental laws and regulations as they pertain to the drycleaning industry. Like many businesses today, the drycleaning industry is working hard with the regulatory community to improve the environment we live in. This, of course, requires drycleaners to fully understand and comply with numerous environmental regulations and controls. One method of testing an individual’s overall knowledge and experience regarding environmental rules, regulation, and safe operating practices is through certification by passing a standard examination.

What Does Environmental Certification Mean to the You?

Boulder Cleaners believes that environmental certification benefits everyone. Individuals who pass the certification examination must have demonstrated a level of knowledge and expertise in critical environmental areas that pertain to the drycleaning industry. Certified drycleaners must also adhere to a set of professional standards developed by drycleaners that recognize certain responsibilities that are basic to the environmental conduct of their business.

What Does Environmental Certification Mean to the Consumer?

The drycleaner who has earned the CED designation has made a commitment to the consumer by keeping abreast of the constantly changing rules and regulations designed to protect the environment and the public. We believe that one of the primary keys to promoting an environmentally safe drycleaning operation is to first understand what an environmentally safe operation is. Certification helps to legitimize this process by professionally testing one’s knowledge and skills.

Certification is also a method used by many organizations to help maintain and increase consumer confidence in an industry. Since the drycleaning industry’s continued success depends upon the trust of the public it serves, certification becomes extremely important.

What Can You Expect from a Certified Environmental DryCleaner?

-Proven knowledge regarding environmental regulation, proper waste handling, occupational safety and health, the safe operation of drycleaning equipment, and other Federal regulatory requirements.
- Adherence to the “Professional Standards of Certified Drycleaners.”
-An awareness of environmental laws and regulations as they pertain to the drycleaning industry.

Boulder Cleaners has 3 CED's on premises!

Boulder Cleaners is proud to announce that all three owners recently earned their CED in August. We will bring you more information from our training throughout the year.

Thank you for reading our October 2006 issue of Boulder Cleaners News. Please let us know if you have any suggestions or comments by contacting us at info@bouldercleaners.com

PS. Please look at our Fun Coupon for the rest of the month- and please have a Happy Halloween!