SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Mattress Recycling Council (MRC), which operates the Bye Bye Mattress program in California, recently awarded $192,000 in grant funding to 24 mattress collection sites throughout the state. The funds will be used for infrastructure improvements or equipment purchases to increase the recyclability of discarded mattresses and box springs by providing weather protection, or to achieve other efficiencies such as lowering costs and improving safety.
“Providing these grants is just one of the ways we continue to work with the more than 200 mattress collection sites throughout California to increase productivity and divert as much material as possible from state landfills,” said Mike O’Donnell, managing director of MRC. “The program serves as a global model for successful mattress recycling and we want to continue that leadership.”
This is the second round of MRC grants to mattress collection sites, with both the number of applicants and awards doubling since Cycle 1. Approved Cycle 2 grant projects include the construction of weather coverings and cement pads to protect mattress integrity, mobile loading ramps to help with transportation and storage and forklift attachments to help with storage and loading.
Cycle 2 grant awardees include:
- Billy Wright Landfill (Merced County)
- Bowerman Landfill (Orange County)
- City of Berkeley (Alameda County)
- City of Exeter (Tulare County)
- City of Oakland (Alameda County)
- Conservation Corps of the North Bay (Marin County)
- Foothill Sanitary Landfill (San Joaquin County)
- Fresno Comfort Sleep (Fresno County)
- Goodwill of Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County)
- Habitat East Bay/Silicon Valley (Alameda County)
- Highway 59 Landfill (Merced County)
- Holdoff’s Recycling (Modoc County)
- Kings Waste Recycling Authority (Kings County)
- Lovelace Transfer Station (San Joaquin County)
- Mendocino Solid Waste Management Authority (Mendocino County)
- Neal Road Transfer Station (Butte County)
- Nortech/Western Placer Waste Management Authority (Placer County)
- North County Recycling and Landfill (San Joaquin County)
- Olinda Landfill (Orange County)
- Peñas Disposal (Tulare County)
- Prima Deshecha Landfill (Orange County)
- Urban Corps of San Diego County (San Diego County)
- West Coast Resource Recovery (Contra Costa County)
- The Wilkerson Company (Solano County)
The grant program is part of MRC’s annual $1 million research fund to improve the recyclability of discarded mattresses and build new markets for recycled mattress materials. This initiative also includes evaluating and implementing efficiencies in the mattress recycling process.