At Kipli, when you purchase a new mattress, we offer to have your old mattress picked up by Éco-Mobilier. Of the 5 million mattresses discarded each year in France, 30% are disposed of as bulky waste or at recycling centers. Éco-Mobilier handles the remaining 70%. That amounts to more than 3 million mattresses, or about 55,000 metric tons of waste. In this article, we’ll explain what happens to these collected mattresses!
What role does Éco-Mobilier play in mattress recycling?
Éco-Mobilier is a nonprofit organization founded in 2011. Authorized by the government, it manages used mattresses from private households. Whereas these mattresses had previously been landfilled, the French government decided in May 2013 to change the law by establishing a national system for more responsible management of this waste. Since then, players in the furniture industry—particularly bedding manufacturers and retailers—have been required to fund the management of used mattresses. This includes their collection, sorting, and recycling. For their part, consumers contribute to funding this process when they purchase a new piece of furniture or a new mattress, throughthe eco-fee collected by companies and then transferred to Éco-Mobilier. In 2018, the amount of the eco-fee collected by Éco-Mobilier was 161.7 million euros.
Until 2018, Éco-Mobilier was the only organization authorized to collect used mattresses. Today, there are two.
Éco-Mobilier’s main partners are: - local governments, which manage recycling centers; - mattress retailers, which handle part of the collection of old mattresses in addition to collecting the eco-fee; - nonprofit organizations, which work to give mattresses a second life; - industry professionals.
Simplified Diagram of How the DEA System WorksSource: Ademe - FURNITURE WASTE (DEA)2019 Annual Report , 2018 data
How does the pickup of used mattresses work?
The first step in the mattress recycling process is to drop off the used mattress at the collection points set up by Éco-Mobilier at public recycling centers and near the warehouses of furniture retailers.
Éco-Mobilier, with the support of other stakeholders such as nonprofit organizations and municipalities, then takes over by collecting the mattresses and transporting them to sorting centers.
Once sorted, recyclable mattresses are sent to a dismantling center, where they are categorized by type: spring, foam, latex, and wool. They are then broken down, and the materials they are made of are recovered for recycling.
Virtually all non-recyclable mattresses are used to generate energy by serving as fuel.
What happens to the mattresses included in the mattress buyback program?
While the law mandates an 80% recycling rate, it is estimated that 87% of the mattresses collected by Éco-Mobilier are recycled. Of the mattresses that are recycled, one in two is recycled, while the rest is used as fuel. Polyurethane and synthetic latex foams are shredded. They are generally turned into padding or thermal and acoustic insulation materials. However, they can also be used to manufacture items such as cushions or specialty rugs, for example.The springs are recycled in steel mills.
The textiles used in mattress covers are shredded to be recycled into insulation or used as fuel. Mattresses that are not recycled—the remaining 13% —are incinerated without energy recovery.
How can we do even better?
Despite all these efforts, many mattresses are still landfilled each year— an estimated 20,000 metric tons annually. This is because some mattresses are not eligible for the mattress take-back program; they do not make it to the sorting center due to their poor condition. These mattresses are difficult for some municipalities to manage, as they lack the necessary resources and appropriate infrastructure.In response, new approaches are being explored to support local governments and encourage retailers to systematically take back old mattresses.
In addition, Éco-Mobilier aims to achieve zero waste by 2023 through the development of new recycling streams. Innovation plays an important role in finding new uses for recovered materials. At Kipli, we believe that the best approach is still to produce biodegradable mattresses, so that at the end of their life cycle, the mattresses do not become waste that is difficult and costly to dispose of.
We hope you enjoyed this article.
Of course,
The Kipli Team