Green Business Don’t sleep on


Feature


mattress recycling


By Warren Lewis, Business Development Coordinator at Mid-Counties Waste Management Services Limited


businesses in the hospitality, health, and education sectors, this could be as simple as finding a better, greener solution for getting rid of unwanted mattresses - a great example of a recyclable material that is often overlooked but with incredible potential to do its bit for the environment. End of life mattress recovery, recycling and refurbishment is a valuable


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activity that delivers significant environmental and economic benefits. For every tonne of mattress material recycled there is an estimated 1.5 tonnes of Co2e savings in greenhouse gas material and landfill space preserved. Recycling mattresses is surprisingly complex; requiring dismantling and


separation processes that requires significant capital investment to undertake safely. While not common, substandard handling and processing of end-of-life mattresses has been known to:


• Act as a vector to allow parasites (mites, bed bugs etc.) and contagious disease to be transmitted across the community.


• Create occupational health and safety risks (lifting, eye injuries and lacerations), contribute to lung disease (inhalation of fibres and dusts), and increase the risk of fire at storage facilities


• Result in illegal dumping and other unlawful disposal methods • Take up significant land fill space and lead to instability within the fill.


Dismantling and shredding of mattresses for recycling and/or landfill


space reduction generates a very large quantity of small lightweight mobile plastic pieces – ranging in size to as small as nanoscale dusts and fibres (around the thickness of a human hair). These materials have toxic properties and represent a substantial health risk to workers and major environmental impacts, requiring the care and handling of an expert. At Mid-Counties Waste Management Services, the process is a manual


one. The units are delivered into a recycling, fully permitted facility, where our staff hand-strip the units and separate the materials into various grades dependant on quality, and condition of the coverings. The pocket springs are individually wrapped in their own small convening for comfort and need to be individually separated from the springs. Again, the material goes for reprocessing and the metal springs are fully recycled and go back through the metal processing plants for tin cans. The material itself is then segregated again into the differing grades and


quality. The best is then forwarded on for further reprocessing and goes for shredding, where it is then turned into practical items such as horse ménages and pressed and dyed to make soft tiles for children’s play area. Even the poorer quality material has its uses - it is normally shipped out


of the country in containers and heads to eastern Europe to be used as ‘waste to energy’ fuel.


February 2019 CHAMBERLINK 65


ecycling isn’t just about installing the correct bins in your offices and sorting plastic from paper anymore, and it’s important to think outside the box and consider other ways you can go green. For


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