DNRP > SWD > LinkUp > Mattresses

Mattresses

Mattresses Used mattresses destined for landfill disposal.

An estimated 20 million to 40 million mattresses with box springs are disposed in the U.S. each year.¹ A single mattress can take up 20 - 40 cubic feet of space in a landfill. King County received about 90,000 mattresses (more than 3000 tons) for disposal at its transfer stations and landfill in 2011.

Alternatives to mattress disposal include charitable donation for reuse, refurbishing for resale or donation, or recycling. While recycling options are currently limited in the Pacific Northwest, there is great potential for recycling. Mattresses are made up of several recyclable materials including polyurethane foam, cotton batting, wood and steel coils.

Currently, only Correctional Industries (external), a Class II Industry (external) of the Washington State Department of Corrections, recycles mattresses in the Puget Sound area, and only in large quantities from businesses, organizations, and public agencies, not from individual residents. There are three mattress recyclers in the Vancouver, B.C. area and one in Eugene, Ore. (See mattress resources for more information.) In addition, Parklane Mattresses provides mattress collection and recycling (through St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, Ore.) in the Portland-Vancouver, Wash. metropolitan area.

LinkUp is researching how to best support mattress collection and recycling in King County. For that purpose, LinkUp convened a Mattress Recycling Summit in Kent on Dec. 7. More than 50 stakeholders from all parts of the mattress supply chain attended the summit, including mattress retail and manufacturing businesses, mattress recyclers, nonprofit organizations, solid waste and recycling businesses, and state and local government solid waste staff.

Participants agreed that mattress disposal is a problem, shared information about the success of mattress recycling in Oregon and British Columbia, and discussed the challenges of mattress collection, storage, transportation and recycling. View the presentations (PDF 1.1 MB) and notes (PDF 129 KB) from the summit.

Also discussed at the summit was the current effort in Connecticut (external) to pass mattress stewardship legislation (external PDF): SB-89, an act establishing a mattress stewardship program, passed out of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Environment Committtee on March 14 (see the bill text, testimony, and history (external) from the Feb. 22 public hearing).

Legislation Update:

• Connecticut: despite gaining more than 40 co-sponsors, overwhelmingly supportive testimony in the Feb. 22 Environment Committee hearing, and passing the Senate on May 2, the Connecticut House failed to pass SB-89 (external) before the May 9 session adjournment (see resources for articles with the industry’s reaction, and the Product Stewardship Institute (external) highlights the job benefits of such legislation).
• California: SB 1118 (external) passed the California Senate Committee on Environmental Quality after an April 23 hearing, and was heard and moved to the Suspense File by Appropriations May 7 due to fiscal impact. SB 1118 would require that manufacturers "provide and arrange for the pickup of used mattresses," for recycling, at no cost to consumers and public agencies; and provides that manufacturers or retailers may recover their costs "by incorporating a charge into the purchase price" of a mattress. However, the bill also allows manufacturers to instead opt to pay fees, voluntarily, for a state-run program, which would accomplish the opposite of producer responsibility legislation. Bill analysis (external) indicates a potential fiscal impact of "at least $700,000 in on-going costs... for the development and implementation of a state-run used mattress recovery and recycling program" should businesses choose not to create their own industry-run solution. SB 1118 will be heard May 24 by Appropriations (external). Also see Senator Hancock’s statement (external), the sponsor of SB 1118.
• Rhode Island: a mattress stewardship bill (S2399 (external)) and other product stewardship bills were heard April 11, but Committee recommended that they be "held for further study," the same fate as framework bill H5888 in 2011.

To make mattress recycling more convenient and available, LinkUp is working to expand the Take it Back Network to include mattresses. Check back regularly for updated news and resources on mattress recycling in King County. For more information, contact Alex Erzen at 206-296-4352 or alex.erzen@kingcounty.gov