Reporter visits a Beijing laundry shop: Clothes mixed and washed together, no distinction between dry cleaning and water washing

Serving high-end coats, underwear, and socks with "accompanying wash"

Nowadays, various laundry shops of all sizes are common on the streets of Beijing. There have long been rumors about the "dark secrets" inside these laundries, but who really understands the true life inside a laundry shop? Our reporter spent three months experiencing the life of a "laundry shop worker."

During these three months, the reporter discovered three money-saving "tricks" used in laundries. Perhaps the staff do not realize the harm these "tricks" cause, but experts tell us that clothes cleaned with these methods will have their appearance and lifespan affected, and may even cause some harm to people's health.

Getting into character

Reader tips and online information help with job application

Earlier this year, the reporter received a tip that laundry shops in Beijing commonly confuse water washing and dry cleaning, and reuse dry cleaning agents. Although these issues have been exposed by multiple media outlets before, little improvement has been made due to lack of supervision.

The reporter contacted a laundry shop located at Xiangluying Toutiao, Xuanwumen, based on online job postings, and arranged a phone appointment to apply for a front desk position.

The boss was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties. After asking the reporter's surname and laundry-related work experience, he introduced the shop's specifics: the front desk job requires working twelve hours daily from 9 am to 9 pm, with four days off per month, providing food and accommodation, and a salary of 2600 yuan. The shop offers social insurance and housing fund for employees, deducting 400 yuan monthly from the salary. During the pre-New Year laundry peak, daily laundry volume ranges from 150 to 350 pieces, with three washing machines running continuously for over ten hours a day. Although the shop already has one front desk staff, two ironing workers, two water washing workers, and a manager, they are still overwhelmed.

From the boss, the reporter learned that this laundry named "Wendersa" mainly handles business from the "Zhuangsheng Residential Community" in Xuanwumen, as well as hotel guest clothes from Xuanwumen Hotel, Hanting Hotel, etc. It also has collection points in Dongdan and Xidan. Like most laundries, it issues membership cards offering discounts from 10% to 40% depending on recharge amounts.

Since the reporter had prior knowledge and preparation, the application was relatively successful. Starting the next day, the reporter began working at the shop. The boss did not ask for an ID card or health certificate, nor did he inquire about the reporter's name.

Encountering "tricks"

Trick one: Clothes mixed and washed together without distinguishing "inside and outside"

Inside the shop, three boxes are placed in the narrow passage from the front desk to the water washing room, filled with customers' clothes and other items to be washed. Besides common items like shirts, suits, socks, and underwear, there are also bed sheets and car seat cushions.

In fact, the decision on which clothes are washed "all together" is based only on light and dark colors, without prioritizing or distinguishing value. Even some high-end scarves and dresses are mixed and washed together with other people's coats, socks, and underwear.

When the reporter asked the washing master in charge, "Doesn't our shop promise to wash clothes separately?" the master calmly replied, "Yes, dirty with dirty, clean with clean."

Previously, during training by the front desk lady, the reporter was repeatedly told to tell customers "our shop washes clothes separately." The reporter also saw other reception staff making this promise to customers when receiving clothes.

Trick two: No distinction between dry cleaning and water washing, followed by "beautification" after washing

On the shop wall, the reporter saw a posted "Laundry Service Notice" clearly stating: "Our shop will operate according to the washing labels on clothes... If quality issues arise from washing according to incorrect labels, our shop will not be responsible."

When consumers ask whether their clothes are water washed or dry cleaned, front desk staff respond: "We wash according to the washing labels on the clothes."

These clothes, when taken to the water washing room, have labels stating "dry clean only" or "do not water wash." However, in practice, if the clothes are only oily or dirty, staff will perform simple stain removal and then the washing master will put them into the washing machine for water washing. During the reporter's experience, at least hundreds of clothes were treated this way monthly.

Around 7 pm on January 29, the reporter saw a black suit delivered on January 28 stacked on the washing machine with other clothes needing water washing, and asked the washing master nearby, "Can suits be water washed?"

The master looked at the suit's label and said, "It's pure wool, and it says no water washing, but there's no choice; if it's very dirty, it has to be water washed." When asked if it would shrink, the master put the clothes back in the washing machine and said, "It's okay, just iron it out."

On February 5, the reporter saw the master brushing a black suit jacket with a brush soaked in detergent and questioned, "Why are you water washing the suit again?" The master put the brushed clothes into the washing machine and said, "Why do you always tell the truth? It's not good if the customers hear that."

During the laundry peak season, the shop sometimes receives 300 to 400 pieces of clothes a day. If the promised separate washing standards and the 12-hour work schedule are followed, three washing machines running 12 hours daily still cannot meet the demand. More importantly, water and electricity costs would multiply.

In the "Beijing Laundry Industry Operation Management Specification" issued by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce in 2004, it is clearly stipulated that processing methods and service modes must not involve fraudulent behavior, and water washing must not be disguised as dry cleaning.

However, the reporter learned that disguising water washing as dry cleaning has become an "unwritten rule" in the laundry industry. During the reporter's experience, laundry workers at two stores, including this one, stated: "No department comes to check how we wash clothes."

Beijing Laundry Industry Operation Management Specification

Article 12: Operators should check the washing labels on clothes when washing, and classify according to the fabric, color depth, degree of dirtiness, and stain condition, using the correct washing method.

Article 13: For the following special services, the correct methods should be used according to the type, texture, and structure of the clothes. (1) Cleaning and maintenance of leather and fur garments; (2) Ironing clothes; (3) Dyeing clothes and coating leather products; (4) Mending clothes should basically follow the different fabric textures, structures, and patterns of textiles and knits, selecting and determining the correct mending methods, tools, and materials, and carefully finishing after mending.

Article 24: If, due to the operator's responsibility, the washed clothes fail to meet the washing quality requirements or do not conform to the prior agreement with the consumer, or cause damage or loss of clothes, the operator shall provide reprocessing, refund the washing fee, or compensate for the loss according to different situations.

Trick Three: Control laundry costs by reusing dry cleaning agents

Besides disguising water washing as dry cleaning to reduce costs, repeatedly using dry cleaning agents is also a common method used by some laundries. The reporter saw the same method in two laundry stores.

Currently, the commonly used dry cleaning agents in laundries are petroleum and perchloroethylene. Due to the high cost of petroleum, few laundries use it. Perchloroethylene, however, is toxic, flammable, and environmentally damaging. According to "Yicai" reports, California has required its dry cleaning industry to stop using perchloroethylene by January 1, 2023, with approval from the US Environmental Protection Agency. The reporter also found that developed countries like the UK have clear restrictions on perchloroethylene emissions and content.

However, in China, perchloroethylene is still the most commonly used dry cleaning agent. The dry cleaning agent used by Wendersa (Xuanwumen store) is also perchloroethylene.

A barrel of perchloroethylene generally costs about 3,000 yuan and can be used for half a year or even a year in an average laundry. According to regulations, clothes must be distilled after washing to remove impurities in perchloroethylene and ensure dry cleaning quality. Some small shops find it difficult to do this and skip the distillation process.

At the Wendersa laundry (Xuanwumen store) where the reporter was, the three barrels containing perchloroethylene inside the dry cleaning machine appeared cloudy through the glass.

The store staff said that because many dark-colored clothes need dry cleaning, two of the three barrels of perchloroethylene have turned black due to repeated use, called "old soup" by industry insiders, used for washing dark clothes. The relatively clean liquid in the other barrel is used for washing light-colored clothes.

The staff revealed that the dry cleaning machine in this laundry is generally distilled once a week. Assuming an average of five loads of dry cleaning per day, about thirty-five washes per week, each of the three small barrels of perchloroethylene in the machine is reused for at least ten loads before distillation.

When asked why, the staff straightforwardly answered "to save electricity and money," and also said "no one supervises how often we distill the dry cleaning machine."

Professional Opinion

Such "tricks" damage clothes and harm health

Regarding the issue of laundries not distinguishing between water washing and dry cleaning, the reporter interviewed Gong Yan, director of the China Environmental Protection Standards Committee and associate professor at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology. He said that if some clothes are not washed according to washing standards during the process, for example, clothes that should be dry cleaned are water washed, the fiber structure of the clothes will change, which is equivalent to "internal injury" to a person, inevitably affecting the appearance and lifespan of the clothes.

Gong Yan told the reporter that different garments have different washing levels and varying degrees of color fading; some clothes fade easily, others do not.

If washed together, it may not be very obvious in appearance, but cross-dyeing will occur, causing some damage to the structure of the clothes.

At the same time, harmful substances on the clothes can transfer to each other, potentially harming the health of the wearer.

Repeated use of detergents leaves bacteria on clothes, which is harmful to human health and may cause cross-infection.

Gong Yan suggests disinfecting clothes taken from the laundry. If possible, use ultraviolet or ozone disinfection; if not, airing and sun exposure for a period of time is also effective.