US states look to address mattress menace

United States – A new programme called Bye Bye Mattress has been launched in the US states of Rhode Island, California and Connecticut in a bid to eliminate the illegal dumping of mattresses.

The scheme is funded via an US$ 11 recycling fee levied on every mattress or box spring sold. So far, over 60 solid waste facilities have joined the initiative, which points out to stakeholders and to the general public that up to 80% of a used mattress can be recycled.

Senator Loni Hancock, who authored the mattress recycling legislation in California, says illegal dumping was creating ‘an enormous public health problem the minute they hit the street or landfill’, and ‘millions of dollars’ were being spent by cities annually to retrieve the mattresses.

More than 50 000 mattresses end up in US landfills every year, it has been estimated. This particular waste stream has been tough to handle, agrees Ryan Trainer, president of the Mattress Recycling Council non-profit group created by the mattress industry to run the recycling scheme.

‘At the end of its useful life, a used mattress has relatively low value,’ Trainer notes. ‘It’s a very bulky product and so we don’t want to handle it multiple times before it gets to the recycler and in turn to the scrap markets where the foam and steel can be reused in making new products.’