April 13, 2023
More than 50,000 mattresses are discarded each day in the U.S. Much of this bulky, cumbersome waste ends up in the nation’s landfills and imposes significant costs on local governments for its management. Less than five percent of mattresses are recycled annually, despite the fact that up to 90 percent of mattress components are recyclable.
Reusing, renovating, and recycling, rather than landfilling, unwanted mattresses can reduce reliance on disposal, recover valuable materials to make other products (including steel, carpet pad, animal bedding, mulch, new textiles, and fibers), create jobs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws for mattresses have the capacity to spur substantial increases in recycling rates and reduce illegal dumping, particularly when legislation includes performance goals and/or collection site convenience metrics. In 2013, Connecticut became the first state in the country to enact a mattress EPR law, followed by California and Rhode Island that same year. Last year, Oregon enacted the first U.S. EPR mattress law in almost a decade, building on the existing three laws.
What have we learned that can help these and future programs achieve the greatest impact? In our recent webinar, we heard from a range of stakeholders and discussed successes and lessons learned from the existing U.S. mattress EPR laws and programs, updates on the new Oregon mattress EPR law, and emerging policy and best practices in mattress stewardship.
The conversation was moderated by Suna Bayrakal, PSI’s Director of Policy and Programs, and speakers included:
Scott Klag, (former) OR Metro
Doug Kobold, CA Product Stewardship Council
Terry McDonald, St. Vincent de Paul
Tom Metzner, CT DEEP
Mike O’Donnell, Mattress Recycling Council
Here are links to materials that were referenced by our speakers during the webinar:
- Mattress Recycling Council’s CA Annual Report
- Mattress Recycling Council’s CT Annual Report
- Mattress Recycling Council’s RI Annual Report
- MRC on Illegal Dumping
- MRC Bye Bye Mattress on Illegal Dumping
- MRC Research
- MRC LCA
The webinar was open for the entire PSI community to attend; however, the recording is accessible only to PSI’s Members and Partners.