Industry-Supported Mattress Recycling Bill

SB 245 By Senator Lou Correa

(Principal co-author: Senator Ron Calderon)

The mattress industry supports SB 245 which will establish a mattress recycling system
 in California. The primary goals of this legislation are to: 

 

Ø  Create an economically practical system for recycling used mattresses;

Ø  Reduce the impact of illegally dumped mattresses;

Ø  Harness existing infrastructure for getting used mattresses to recyclers;

Ø  Minimize cost to governments and consumers.

If enacted, SB 245 would be the first law of its kind in the country and would provide a model for other states to follow. The proposed law would accomplish the following:

·         Create a non-profit mattress recycling organization made up of retailers and manufacturers whose duty would 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. 

·         The organization would fund the system by collecting a nominal fee at retail on the sale of new mattresses and box-springs.  Many states follow a similar approach for other consumer products, including tires, batteries, motor oil, electronic devices, paint and carpet.

·         The organization will  create a financial incentive to encourage parties (including retailers that pick up used mattresses from consumers, municipal transfer stations, and groups that pick up illegally dumped mattresses) to send used mattresses to mattress recyclers. 

·         The organization would essentially eliminate the problem of illegal mattress dumping through the establishment of the financial incentive.

·         The system would not mandate retailers to collect used mattresses from anyone but would take advantage of the fact that most retailers already pick up used mattresses as part of their service to their customers.

·         The organization would develop reimbursement criteria for retailers to recover their administrative costs associated with program participation.

·         The organization will increase recycling rates, improve consumer awareness of, and participation in the system, and conduct research to improve recycling efficiency and demand for recycled materials.

·         The organization’s activities will be transparent and open to public input and subject to annual performance and financial audits that would be published on its website.

·         The state’s oversight authority would confirm whether the organization has met its statutory obligations.