Hesperian Cleaners is the first dry cleaner who recieved the Environmental Business Award for being green in the Bay Area.
We are a Cerified Green Business
Certified Green Business
Winner of Business Environmental Award
Small Business Excellence Award
Water Smart Business Certificate from the E.B.M.U.D.
Hesperian Cleaners owner Sung Lee, shown here with his father Hak Lee who helped start the business, has won several awards for conserving water and making his cleaners environmentally friendly. Dry Cleaners in San Lorenzo conserves water By Jim Knowles
San Leandro Times
The East Bay Municipal Utility District recognized Hesperian Cleaners in San Lorenzo as a WaterSmart Business for its water efficiency.
Hesperian Cleaners owner Sung Lee says he wants to lead the way in the dry cleaning industry.
“I want to set an example, to become a leader in the industry so others will follow,” Lee said.
Lee’s cleaners went to a water-based cleaning system, instead of using solvents or other chemicals. But he says the German-built machines are very efficient in the way they use water, so he has reduced his water consumption.
California requires safer methods for dry cleaning
Thanks to a statewide ban, dry cleaners in the Bay Area are scrambling to green up their operations. In the first plan of its kind, the California Environmental Protection Agency approved phasing out traditional dry cleaning machines in January 2007. Many machines will be gone in a year and a half, and a series of Bay Area programs are lining up to help local cleaners through their difficult transition.
“The goal is to encourage cleaners to adopt wet cleaning or carbon-dioxide-based methods — these are the only two alternatives the state considers non-toxic and non-smog forming,” said Peter Sinsheimer, director of the Pollution Prevention Center at Occidental College in Los Angeles. Sinsheimer ran several workshops in the Bay Area this year, and says more are planned for 2009.
New technology sweeps across industry and may forever change your corner dry cleaner
By Douglas Fischer - STAFF WRITER
Tri-Valley Herald, Monday, July 30, 2007
SAN LORENZO -- No sign touts the pile of cash Song Lee spent to switch his modest dry-cleaning shop to green technology.
He simply pulled aside a long-time customer, a Berkeley police officer whose perspiration-stained uniform would be the bane of any cleaner, to ask if he noticed anything different.``Yeah,'' Lee recalls the cop saying. ``It smells cleaner. There's no dry-cleaned smell. What'd you do? '' I spent $90,000 for you,'' Lee replied. Lee is part of a vanguard of clothing cleaners adopting new technology as California phases out the industry's chemical of choice, perchloroethylene, or perc, linked to a host of cancers, leukemia and other health problems. He's trying to get out ahead of a wave of green technology that threatens to wash away the mom-and-pop cleaner and reshape the industry.
In the San Francisco Bay area, the number of dedicated wetcleaners is increasing.
Recently, Sung Han Lee organized a meeting for various Miele/Veit/Kruessler users at Hesperian Cleaners in San Lorenzo, CA. When Lee first converted to a wetcleaning system back in March of 2007, he realized the only other Miele user in the area was Sergio Rios of Bob’s Cleaners, in Richmond, CA. Nowadays, there are nine Miele users (seven of whom attended the meeting) located in the vicinity that reaches as far south as Sunnyvale, which is in the heart of Silicon Valley, to as far north as Sacramento and up to the coast to Mill Valley.
Hesperian cleaners Inc won another Environmental Award
Hesperian Cleaners was among several California businesses recognized by CoolCalifornia.org for excellence in taking steps to reduce its impact on the climate and communicating the information to employees and customers.
Since converting from perchloroethylene to wetcleaning, Hesperian has been a leader among northern California wetcleaners by hosting workshops and open houses and consulting with other cleaners and government agencies.
Hesperian Cleaners has stores in San Lorenzo, Castro Valley, and Danville, CA. Hesperian owner Sung Han Lee said that since switching from perc to a Miele/Veit/Kreussler system he has reduced electricity consumption by 50 percent, water consumption by more than 30 percent and hazardous waste generation by 100 percent, reducing his carbon footprint by tons.
Danville, CA…With the world becoming more and more aware of the green initiative, people and businesses are looking for healthier options in their daily lives at home and in the workplace, to preserve the environment. To some degree, each and every single person can do his/her part in “going green,” whether it be as little as switching from using an old incandescent light bulb to an energy star compact fluorescent light bulb, to businesses converting entire systems and methods of operation to more environmentally sustainable ones. One such individual decided he wanted to make an impact on his family, his neighborhood, his employees and the environment, by completely switching his dry cleaning methods to a wet cleaning process.
Concerned by the potential health hazards associated with the use of perchloroethylene (PERC), a traditional dry cleaning chemical, Hesperian Cleaners decided to go green. “I didn’t want to change it to another solvent or another type of chemical,” says owner Sung Han Lee. Therefore, five years ahead of the new mandated schedule to phase out PERC, Mr. Lee chose a new process called wet cleaning. Rather than switching to a “less bad” process using hydrocarbon solvents, Hesperian Cleaners decided to go with the only process that can be truly called organic. The wet cleaning process includes a computer controlled cleaning machine that uses a small amount of water with biodegradable detergent. It uses less water than other dry cleaning processes and, unlike most cleaning processes, does not generate any hazardous toxic waste.
Acterra's 2008 Business Environmental Awards Honor "Green" Business Practices Around the Bay Area
Hesperian Cleaners, Inc. of San Lorenzo will receive competitive environmental award.
PALO ALTO, May 21, 2008 - Acterra today announced the winners of the prestigious 2008 Business Environmental Awards, identifying ten companies and organizations who have demonstrated extraordinary environmental leadership from among this year's highly competitive field. Once again, innovative Bay Area companies have proven their commitment to the environment with their extensive and creative sustainability practices.The ten winners will be honored at a ceremony on June 3, 2008 at the Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center, Stanford University.
Hesperian Cleaners, Inc. of San Lorenzo will receive the Susanne Wilson Award for Pollution Prevention/Resource Conservation - Special Project for its leadership in converting its perchloroethylene (PERC) cleaning process to 100% dedicated "wet" cleaning and for championing the adoption of green cleaning within the dry cleaning industry. Owner Sung Han Lee regularly offers open houses, tours, demonstrations, and workshops in an effort to showcase the environmental and health benefits of green cleaning which eliminates the use of toxic chemicals, does not generate hazardous waste, and uses far less energy than traditional dry cleaning.
An award-winning dry cleaners that's been at the forefront of the eco-friendly movement has come to Danville to paint the town green.Hesperien Cleaners took over Danville Cleaners on July 19 and converted it to be 100 percent environmentally friendly. The family- owned business is the second green cleaners to open in Contra Costa County.
"I've been looking forward to coming into Danville for over a year," said owner Sung Han Lee. "Now Danville has a choice of how their garments get cleaned."
Green cleaning, also called "wet" cleaning, uses water along with a specially formulated, biodegradable detergent. The machine itself is computer-controlled and designed to clean sensitive, dry-clean-only items without harming them.
Hesperian Cleaners owner Sung Han Lee won a Small Business Excellence Award from the California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Resources Board in Sacramento last month for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at his three stores.
Lee's company was one of only 21 winners selected from over 100 applicants statewide. In addition to his San Lorenzo location, he also owns eco-friendly cleaners in Castro Valley and Danville. Lee hopes to serve as a model for other small businesses owners and garment cleaners.
"They don't just give these awards. We worked hard for it. We had to provide documentation which showed that we reduced our electric usage by 50 percent, our water usage by 30 percent, and best of all, our hazardous waste is down to zero." says Lee. The also received the Green Business certification that verifies high environmental standards, and is awarded by the Bay Area Green Business Program.
Sun Han Lee, owner of Hesparian Cleaners, the first certified green dry cleaning business in Alameda County, is the winner of the 2008 Susanne Wilson Award for Pollution Prevention and Resource Conservation.
The award, presented by Acterra - a non profit organization which educates the public on the environment, honors businesses which employ innovation and technology to offer their products or services in an environmentaly friendly way.
Lee started the eco-friendly conversion of his dry cleaning shop in 2007, just before the EPA regulations began to unleash on the industry. Regulations called for the extinction of chemical cleaners like perchlorethelyne.
SAN LORENZO — Since Sung Han Lee, the owner of Hesperian Cleaners, invested in a new clothes washing system, the only thing he has seen shrink is his water and energy usage.
SUNG HAN LEE, the
owner of Hesperian Cleaners, is photographed at his San Lorenzo business.
TUE NAM TON — Staff
Like the spots and stains removed during dry-cleaning, Hesperian Cleaners' new system has completely eliminated the toxic chemicals that many professional launderers are known for using. Hesperian Cleaners is the first and only business in San Lorenzo this year to be certified as "green" by the Bay Area Green Business Program.
Thanks to a statewide ban, dry cleaners in the Bay Area are scrambling to green up their operations. 
