Mattress Recycling Bill – SB 254 (Hancock-Correa)
Mattress Recycling Done Right
Californians for Mattress Recycling (C4MR)
supports legislation to establish a mattress recycling system in California.
The primary goals of this plan 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, this 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.
The fee collected does NOT go into government coffers; rather, it is
remitted directly to the NGO responsible for the mattress recycling
program. 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 (reimburse
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 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.
Californians
for Mattress Recycling is an ad hoc group representing stakeholders united in
their support for efficient and practical mattress recycling. For more information contact Shelly Sullivan
at (916) 858-8686 or go to: http://www.ca4mattressrecycling.org
No comments:
Post a Comment