EDITORIAL

Hello to ‘Bye Bye Mattress’

Posted 5/5/16

The sight of discarded mattresses and box springs – on the side of the road, alongside dumpsters or charitable collection boxes, in vacant lots, in wooded areas – is unfortunately too familiar …

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EDITORIAL

Hello to ‘Bye Bye Mattress’

Posted

The sight of discarded mattresses and box springs – on the side of the road, alongside dumpsters or charitable collection boxes, in vacant lots, in wooded areas – is unfortunately too familiar for many in our communities.

Now, Rhode Island has become the third state in the nation – after Connecticut and California – to adopt an initiative aimed at ensuring mattresses and box springs are disposed of legally and, to the greatest extent possible, kept out of the landfill.

Bye Bye Mattress, a program of the Mattress Recycling Council (MRC), kicked off in the Ocean State this week. The way it works is simple: a $10 fee charged when local consumers buy a mattress or box spring goes toward funding a free recycling program, with various drop-off locations available throughout the state.

The General Assembly backed the program’s creation in 2013. The MRC, in its written plan for Rhode Island’s program, describes the effort as a collaboration between the mattress industry, Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp., environmental groups, municipalities, and other stakeholders.

The program – in which participation is voluntary – will provide free storage containers for municipalities and other entities that produce a large volume of mattresses and box springs, including hospitals and educational institutions. A number of cities and towns have already made arrangements for, or expressed interest in creating, a local drop-off site for residents.

Bye Bye Mattress will provide for the free pickup of discarded materials, which will then be recycled to the greatest extent possible. Resource Recovery has said it currently takes approximately 32,000 mattresses a year at the Central Landfill in Johnston – a number officials believe will drop significantly thanks to the new recycling initiative.

Additionally, consumers may themselves drop off mattresses and box springs at one of two recycling locations in the state, receiving $2 per item. This option is limited to four mattresses at any one time, and eight per year, per household. The participating locations are Ace Mattress Recycling at 14 Clyde St. in West Warwick and Express Mattress Recyclers at 310 Bourne Ave. in East Providence.

The Bye Bye Mattress program appears to be an excellent idea on multiple fronts. With the end of landfill’s lifespan looming in the not-too-distant future, any step that can be taken to reduce the volume of waste it is taking in – particularly large items such as mattresses and box springs – is extremely valuable. Maximizing the degree to which these large items are recycled has an even broader positive impact.

The program also makes disposal of mattresses and box springs easier than ever, which should – at least in theory – reduce the illegal dumping that blemishes our communities and creates headaches for municipalities, non-profits, and property owners.

That isn’t to say there aren’t obstacles or questions. Some will continue to thoughtlessly discard mattresses. The new program must also develop its infrastructure and operations without the collection of up-front recycling fees having already been in place.

We will be watching as the program develops, and rooting for its success. Perhaps its collaborative model will provide inspiration as our state tackles other challenges, large and small.

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