Used mattresses are the bane of a landfill's existence. They take up a lot of space, give off noxious gases as they decompose, and their springs can damage the machinery used to flatten them.
So what if, for a small fee, you could have your old mattress picked up by an environmentally friendly charity, which would then tear it apart and find new uses for about 90 percent of the materials?
Would you do it?
The Mustard Seed of Central Florida — a furniture and clothing bank for families who have lost everything — is hoping the answer is yes.
The 25-year-old nonprofit already has begun recycling paper as well as used appliances, copiers, computers and phone systems it once had rejected.
"We want to be good environmental stewards," said Michelle Lyles, the charity's new executive director. "And we want to find a way to earn sustainable revenue so we can continue our mission of helping people."
Last week the Mustard Seed launched a 90-day pilot project to recycle mattress materials, selling off nearly all of the components and becoming one of only a handful of businesses in the country to do so. If it's successful, the enterprise could help create blue-collar jobs, earn revenue for the cash-strapped charity and get more beds to families who need them.
"Before, when mattresses were donated," Lyles said, "we kept the ones that were in good shape and we threw the bad mattresses away."
The practice not only placed a burden on the landfill, but it also cost money to haul the mattresses away. Worse, it left the charity with a perpetual shortage of beds for needy families. But by issuing a call for all used mattresses — good and bad — the charity expects to end up with more beds that are clean and sturdy enough to be reused immediately.
The standard, Lyles said, is, "If it's something we would sleep on, we'll give it to our clients. If not, it's going to get recycled."
The recycling process involves stripping the mattress down to its individual components — the quilted topper, the polyurethane foam, the steel springs, the wooden frame and a rough-hewn interior pad that feels as if it is made of horsehair. Those components, in turn, can be baled and sold for use in everything from carpet pads to garden mulch to car engines.
"It can sometimes be difficult, but usually the components can be used somehow," said Celia Walker, project manager for the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Eugene, Ore., a pioneer in the mattress-recycling business. That organization, which started recycling mattresses 11 years ago, is now one of the largest such recyclers in the world, and its representatives have been in Orlando helping the Mustard Seed learn the process.
Although a lot of businesses will strip a cotton top cover off a mattress, recover it and sell it as rebuilt, that is not actually recycling, Walker said. For one thing, the material stripped off is typically thrown away. Rebuilt mattresses — a potential next step for the Mustard Seed after recycling — involve stripping old mattresses down to just metal and wood, then adding all new soft materials.
In Eugene, the mattress-recycling effort brought in $1 million in revenue last year.
Lyles doesn't anticipate that kind of return anytime soon, but the program is a major part of a whole new direction for the Mustard Seed, whose founder, Carol Kane, retired in February after questions about how the charity was run. Since then, Lyles has looked for opportunities not only to benefit the environment but also to make the charity self-sustaining.
"It's a mantra of our times," said Terrence McDonald, executive director of Eugene's St. Vincent de Paul Society, which earned $29 million last year for everything from its thrift stores to handcrafted glass art from recycled windows.
"The message that is being driven home is that nonprofits can't expect the same (donations) they received last year or two years ago," he said. "We all need to find new and better ways to do things and raise money."
RISMEDIA, September 4, 2010--(MCT)--
(c) 2010, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.)
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