A statewide program that launched this year keeps a bulky and problematic item out of Oregon landfills: mattresses.
Towering piles of foam and metal line the bays of a St. Vinnie’s warehouse in Eugene, and workers separate the layers of mattress material. Fabric, wood, metal, and foam can be reused.
Bethany Cartledge, the Executive Director of St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, said they’ve been accepting mattresses for years. But a new Oregon law shifts the landscape.
“The huge change is for the consumer first, because they’re able to bring the bed or the box spring in for free," she told KLCC. "There’s changes for retailers, because they have an avenue with Mattress Recycling Council now to have a trailer of mattresses removed from their facility.”
Under Oregon’s Mattress Stewardship Act, buyers pay an extra $22.50 per mattress, which funds the program.
Cartledge said besides keeping mattresses out of landfills, and discouraging illegal dumping, it’s already created local jobs. This year, the operation on Prairie Road has grown from four to 11 employees.
Cartledge said roughly 75% of each mattress is recyclable. Foam is most often used as carpet padding, but scientists are working on other applications, such as making it into a moldable plastic-like material.
Mike O’Donnell, Chief Operating Officer of the Mattress Recycling Council, showed off a cell phone cover that had been made from processed, extruded foam.
Angie Marzano with Waste Wise Lane County said people who bring mattresses to the Glenwood transfer station will find new instructions, asking them to stack mattresses neatly in a trailer that will bring them to St. Vincent de Paul’s facility.
"We’re also doing marketing and outreach to get the word out that instead of paying $13, it’s now free,” she said.
Oregon is the fourth state to enact a mattress recycling law. O’Donnell said in the 10 years since Connecticut first passed such a law, the Mattress Recycling Council has processed 15 million mattresses. Programs also exist in Rhode Island and California.
Lane County residents can recycle mattresses at the Glenwood Transfer Station, or by bringing them to St. Vincent de Paul stores in Cottage Grove, Florence or Eugene. Other locations throughout the state are listed here, and more are expected to be added over time.
