At blinq, we’re striving to partner with the best global and local brands in order to bring fun, unique and convenient products and services to Bay Area commuters. One of the great local companies with which we’ve partnered for launch is Greener Cleaners, a dry cleaning service that’s committed to green, sustainable clothing care. With Greener Cleaners, commuters will be able to easily pick up and drop off their dry cleaning on the way to and from work, all while helping the environment. We chatted with them to get all the details behind the company and its exclusive blinq offerings.

blinq: What’s Greener Cleaners’ mission?

Greener Cleaners: At Greener Cleaners we’re transforming the dry cleaning experience. Our mission is provide a truly environmentally sustainable clothes cleaning process, along with re-usable and recyclable garment bags and online account management.

b: What makes Greener Cleaners different from other dry cleaners?

GC: There are a lot of dry cleaners out there who say they’re “eco-friendly” or “organic.” But that really isn’t the case with 99% of them. They just changed from using a chlorinated hydrocarbon solvent to a non-chlorinated hydrocarbon solvent. So the big oil companies that make the solvents decided that it would qualify as green. It’s not. It’s still a petrochemical, a likely carcinogen, an air and water pollutant. It also shortens the life of your clothes because, to get it to evaporate, the temperature has to be raised to 140 degrees.

At Greener Cleaners we use recycled liquid carbon dioxide as our cleaning solvent. It’s just beverage-grade co2--like the bubbles in your mineral water--pressurized in a special chamber until becomes liquid. It gently distributes the specially engineered biodegradable cleaning agent at a cool 60 degrees. Then it reverts to a gas when the pressure is released.

Another thing that makes us different is that we really hate disposable plastic film bags. We are determined to do whatever we can to reduce the amount of plastic in landfills and waterways. So we designed a special garment bag with shoulder straps for easy carrying while walking, biking, or--yes, riding BART! It’s made of recycled materials, and we reuse them over and over until they are no longer fit for service. Then we recycle them.

b: Why did you decide to start working with blinq?

GC: Our vision has always been to make clothes cleaning both green and convenient. For some time we have been exploring ways to get Greener Cleaners to places where busy people already go. When blinq asked us if we would be interested in a new way of reaching people using public transit, we thought it was a great fit.

Then we learned about how the screens and concierges would help people understand about the sustainable options for managing their daily lives and that really sold us.

So many people end up driving around, usually on weekends, doing errands like dry cleaning. When people combine using BART with taking care of their clothes, they reduce their emissions and have a less stressful life. We are so glad to be able to help more people find ways to green their lives while using their time to do more enjoyable things.