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Bloomington Cleaners
Bloomington Cleaners is a dry cleaning and laundry firm at 317 W. 17th Street that has been in business for more than 35 years.
In 2004 it received a Five Star rating from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Dry cleaners have traditionally given off fumes from dry cleaning chemicals both into the air and into the lungs of employees, but modern dry cleaners use high-tech equipment allowing employees to work without physical contact with the chemicals. Used chemicals are recycled when possible or disposed of certified hazardous waste handlers, and employees have air monitoring badges to test the air quality in the building.
The company was started in the early 1970's. J.T. Mitchell bought the store from Earl and Bernice Cox in 1980 and sold it to David Arthur twelve years later.
In 2008, Arthur had 120 tons of soil on the property that was contaminated by perchloroethylene hauled away by Enviroforensics, an Indianapolis environmental cleanup firm. The cost of the cleanup was probably about $500,000. Workers had to dig right down to the bedrock underneath the store.
