Converting A Product Deemed 100% Waste
According to the industries most accurate analysis conducted by Oakdene Hollins on behalf of the NBF National Bedding Federation
6.4 Million Mattresses were disposed of in 2020 in the UK alone
This is a worldwide problem and Reborn found and created the worldwide sustainable solution
It has been cited that over 18.7 million mattresses are landfilled in the United States, just under 2 million in Australia and over 30 million across Europe so its safe to say the world is not short of raw materials
If the UK measures 2,610,198,835,200 sq/ft do we just continue to fill it? What do we really think will happen if we do? What will happen when every square foot is full from our throwaway culture?
THE PLANET NEEDS SOLUTIONS NOT PROBLEMS!.
Creating a circular economy is just part of a long-term solution. It reduces the need to take materials from the earth to make products in the first place. If materials and components from mattresses deemed 100% waste by the end user can be ethically brought back to good original integrity and comply with all environmental and legal compliance then why let these materials take up valuable landfill space? A mattress deemed waste by the end user in most cases does not mean that 100% of its individual components have reached the end of its life. There are many reasons that the end user replaces a mattress and in many of these cases, when deconstructed and separated alot of the individual components are still in like new condition;
- Mattress dips/ sags
- Damaged in transit
- House move/ re-decorate
- Retailer 100-day mattress trials
- Spillage/ accidental damage
- Comfort/ age replacement
In many of these cases it is just 1 or 2 of the components that have reached the end of life and in these cases the materials can be shredded back into a shoddy form and blended back in with virgin raw materials. In other cases such as a foam mattress, there may be a dip in a section of the mattress, and this can be cut out, allowing the rest of the foam to be utilised in other ways
An Estimated 6.4 Million Mattresses Were Disposed of in 2020
This means that 4.8 million mattresses were sent to landfill in 2020. That’s the equivalent to:
- 1,500 premier league football pitches side by side.
- If the mattresses were to be stacked on top of each other, it would be equivalent to the height of 310 of the UK’s largest skyscrapers, or over 290 Emily Moor Masts stacked on top of each other.
- That’s the equivalent weight of over 50 African Elephants.
All buried underground each and every year in the hope that the materials will decompose.
Mattresses are a huge problem to landfill sites; the springy nature of a mattress causes soft spots in the ground, which can result in vehicles overturning on unsafe ground.
The spring wires become entangled in machinery and get wrapped around vehicle axles, causing unnecessary breakdowns and repairs.
Just over 7 million mattresses disposed of in 2019
Over 7.6 million mattresses disposed of in 2018
Just under 7.3 million mattresses disposed of in 2017
And over 6.7 million mattresses disposed of in 2016
And only a tiny fraction of them being diverted for recycling. The rest of the materials buried under ground, taking up valuable space in the hope that they may decompose
