Mattress are bulky and made up of layers of materials, including wood, steel and foam. This has made them a problem in landfills and a candidate for recycling.
GreenState podcast co-hosts Dylan Darling and Katie Romano visit a mattress recycling facility in Eugene to learn how the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County pulls apart mattresses to keep most of material out of the waste stream. Terry McDonald, emeritus director for St. Vinnie’s led them on a tour and then sat down for an interview.
“The industry average is about 75 to 80 percent (of a mattresses’ components) can be recycled in one form or another,” McDonald said. “That changes depending upon what the design of mattresses are.”
Rachel Harding, product stewardship specialist with DEQ, also joined GreenState to talk about the agency’s new Mattress Stewardship Program. In 2022, Oregon became the fourth U.S. state to enact a law establishing a statewide mattress recycling program and the program will ramp up in 2024.
“This is a brand new program for the state,” Harding said. “It’ll provide collection and responsible management of discarded mattresses throughout the state.”
Listen to the podcast on: SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
SHOW NOTES
- Introduction
- New title for Terry McDonald [3:00]
- Visit to the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County’s mattress recycling facility [3:50]
- Terry McDonald interview [6:45]
- Rachel Harding interview [19:30]
- Mattress Stewardship Program [19:50]
- DEQ materials management web page [37:15]
- Wrap-up [39:15]
Photo by Dylan Darling/DEQ
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