One down and 49 more to go could soon turn into three down and 47 more to go. What I am referring to is efforts in the 50 states to create statewide recycling programs for used mattresses. As reported here on Green Lodging News, earlier this year Connecticut passed legislation to create the infrastructure for a mattress recycling program. Late last month, California’s State Senate approved SB 254, a bill which would create the same. Assembly hearings on that legislation, according to Ryan Trainer, president, International Sleep Products Assn. (ISPA), are expected to begin early next month. In Rhode Island, a bill similar to Connecticut’s is expected to be considered by the Rhode Island Senate in the next couple of months.
This is all good news for the lodging industry. Instead of sending mattresses to landfills, hoteliers will be able to easily participate in the statewide recycling programs. Details are currently being worked out in each state. California’s program and Connecticut’s will be similar in that the program will be funded by a nominal fee collected at the point of purchase on the sale of new mattresses and box-springs. This fee will support a nonprofit mattress recycling organization whose purpose will be to plan, implement and administer a state system to collect discarded used mattresses, dismantle them and recycle their materials for use in new products.
Three states is a start. Let’s hope other states take note and create similar programs. What is making the programs possible in states like California and Connecticut is that they have the support of all stakeholders involved—industry, retailers, cities and counties, local elected officials, and waste management organizations.
Recycling Momentum Building
Announcements from California and Connecticut follow the announcement from Hilton Worldwide last fall that it would implement a mattress recycling program in coordination with the installation of new Serta mattresses and box-springs. Available across all brands in the United States, the program will recycle approximately 85 percent of Hilton hotel mattresses and box-springs into various products rather than being diverted to a landfill. In partnership with DH Hospitality, mattresses will be recycled into products such as tools, automobiles, construction materials, tempered flooring, particle board shelving and a variety of pressed wood products, oil filters, mats and stuffing, and carpet padding.
I spoke with ISPA’s Ryan Trainer this past week and he told me that ideally, mattress recycling should be a national activity and there should be a national legislative approach to it. “It is difficult to get Congress to focus on the recycling issue,” he says. According to ISPA, up to 2,000 jobs could be created if a national infrastructure for mattress recycling were created.
Until mattress recycling becomes much easier in your state, do whatever you can to avoid sending your used mattresses and box-springs to the dump. When buying new, choose vendors that support mattress recycling programs and be sure to ask them if they have a take-back program ready or at least in development.
Your thoughts? As always, I can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com, or by phone at (216) 848-1406.
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