November 2020 Highlights

America Recycles Day: MRC Participates in Virtual Events for 2020 

November 15 is America Recycles Day. This year, MRC demonstrated its role as a recycling leader through participation in a number of events and campaigns designed to support recycling initiatives nationwide, including the EPA-sponsored America Recycles Day Innovation Fair and Summit.
 
MRC hosted a virtual booth at the Innovation Fair, which featured over 40 exhibitors working to advance recycling in the U.S.  Director of Operations Justine Fallon represented MRC at the Summit, where EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler discussed the national recycling goals and strategy, as well as challenges and opportunities in the year ahead. MRC is also a signatory of the America Recycles Pledge.
 
In honor of America Recycles Day, MRC’s Bye Bye Mattress program featured a recycling challenge on its social platforms, urging supporters to do something good for the environment each day. Using the hashtag #BBMRecyclingChallenge, the campaign fostered awareness of ByeByeMattress.com and featured tips on how and why you should recycle your old mattress.

Interested in No-Cost Commercial Recycling? 

MRC’s Commercial Volume Program (CVP) works with hotels, hospitals and educational facilities to provide environmentally friendly and cost-effective solutions for discarded mattresses. MRC is running a campaign on LinkedIn that highlights MRC’s interest in partnering with commercial entities to provide no-cost mattress recycling and divert useful materials from landfills.

Learn more on our Commercial Recycling page and be sure to follow and share our posts on LinkedIn.

Is Your Locator Listing Accurate?

Now is a good time to review your listing on our Bye Bye Mattress recycling locator to be sure your contact information, address and hours are correct. To update or modify the information, please submit this form. Thanks!

Next in Our “How To” Video Series: Bed Bugs

For the second video in our “How To” series, MRC collaborated with Gale Ridge, chair of the Connecticut Coalition Against Bed Bugs and state entomologist, to develop an instructional video about bed bugs. Gale covers bed bug behavior, what to look for and how to properly respond if bed bugs are found. She also addresses common myths and facts about bed bugs.
 
“The video is a great resource for anyone with concerns about bed bugs or anyone that handles mattresses for recycling,” according to Kate Caddy, MRC’s operations coordinator. The video is part of a new MRC series offering valuable, on-demand resources to facilitate best practices in mattress recycling for program participants.
 
The first video, which offered tips on how to stack and load mattresses for recycling, is now also available in Spanish. These resources and more can be found on MRC’s website. 

California

Retailer Take Back: Webinar, FAQs and Resources Now Available 

Starting Jan. 1, 2021 any retailer that delivers a new mattress to a California consumer must offer to pick up the consumer’s discarded mattress at no additional charge regardless of sales format or delivery method. California AB 187 expands the existing pick up requirement to include deliveries made by common carrier that were previously exempt.

Recognizing that pick up is a new requirement for many online mattress sellers and others that were previously exempt, MRC has developed tools to assist with compliance including a webinar, “California Mattress Recycling: What Retailers Need to Know,” answers to frequently asked questions about the law update and a list of third-party contractors and transporters that may be able to assist retailers with meeting the new pick up obligations. This list is provided as a service, may not be comprehensive and does not represent endorsement by MRC.

This information and more is available on the retailer take back page of our website and will be updated regularly as needed.

New Territory Map!

MRC has recently updated its territory map for the state of California. To find your assigned program coordinator or download the updated map, click here. The map also provides contact information for MRC’s Commercial Volume Program and Illegally Dumped Mattress Collection Initiative. Check it out!

Northeast

Connecticut Mattress Recycling Fee to Increase to $11.75 on Jan. 1, 2021

On Jan. 1, 2021 the Connecticut mattress recycling fee will increase from $9 to $11.75 per unit for all mattresses and foundations sold in Connecticut. This change represents the first increase in the mattress recycling fee since the program began in 2015 and is necessitated by increased labor and operational expenses. Read more here.

In early December, all retailers registered with MRC in Connecticut will receive a package with updated storefront materials, program information and a guide to customer FAQs. Please be on the lookout for this package and update your point of sale materials accordingly.

Salvation Army Offers Mattress Collection for all Connecticut Residents

Since 2015, the Salvation Army has collaborated with MRC to offer convenient and cost-efficient mattress disposal options for Connecticut residents. Approximately 50 mattresses a month are collected from two locations in Newington and Hartford. The mattresses then get recycled at MRC’s contracted recycler Park City Green in Bridgeport, diverting almost 36,000 pounds of material from the waste stream annually to be remade into new products.

“MRC is proud to partner with local nonprofits like the Salvation Army to recycle mattresses at no-cost, which helps provide jobs, support the local community and keep Connecticut clean and green,” said Dan McGowan, MRC’s northeast program coordinator. Click here to learn more about MRC’s program in Connecticut or contact Dan to learn how to become a Bye Bye Mattress collection site.

MRC Partners with Goshen and New Haven for Successful Collection Events 

MRC recently partnered with the Town of Goshen in Connecticut to host a mattress collection event for residents. The first-time event was very successful, resulting in the collection of 75 units and diverting more than 4,000 pounds of useful material from the waste stream. 

MRC also joined in New Haven’s Hometown Recycling Day on Oct. 24. The event was designed to spread the word on recycling, waste diversion and extended producer responsibility. Numerous mattresses were safely collected for recycling following our contactless event protocol. “I am pleased to say that the event was well attended and went smoothly,” said Pierre Barbour, executive director of the New Haven Solid Waste Authority. 

Research

OPEN RFP: Seeking Innovators to Develop End Uses for Recycled Mattress Components

MRC is seeking creative proposals to demonstrate potential to use hard-to-recycle mattress components in new or reformulated applications and/or products. The initiative is part of MRC’s $1 million annual research fund to improve how discarded mattresses and box springs are recycled and identify new markets for reclaimed mattress materials. Coming in December, MRC is hosting a webinar with the University-Industry Demonstration Partnership to drive interest from the university research community.  Learn more about the open RFP here.

MRC Presents at Polyurethane Conference

MRC President Ryan Trainer and Research Consultant Mike Gallagher presented an update at the Polyurethane Foam Association (PFA) Fall Meeting this month. The update focused on MRC’s work to support a circular economy for foam and innovative research efforts that include partnerships with Covestro and several universities including UCLA. “Best presentation of the day. Very informative,” said Russ Batson, PFA’s executive director. Learn more about MRC’s research initiatives here.

Collection Site Funding Awards Reap Results 

Seventeen mattress collection sites across the state of California received $140,000 in a second round of funding awards from MRC. The funding provided for infrastructure and equipment purchases to increase recyclability of mattresses and the efficiency of collecting mattresses for recycling. Projects completed include 11 new weather covers, cement pads and staging areas. As a result of these improvements, the sites expect to increase recyclable units by more than 45,000 annually.

Six additional awardees purchased equipment to improve the safety and/or efficiency of collection operations such as pallet racking, loading ramps, forklift attachments and lighting. MRC launched a third round of collection site improvement funding in July 2020, resulting in 11 applicants receiving $82,000 in project funds. In total, MRC has now awarded nearly $400,000 for mattress collection site improvement projects. Learn more here.

MRC in the News

Telling Our Story: Podcasts and Prime Time

  • Got an old mattress? Here’s how you can recycle it in CT – MRC was featured during prime time on ABC affiliate channel 8 in New Haven about the importance of mattress recycling and how to access the Bye Bye Mattress program.
  • A Better Death for Mattresses – MRC’s Justine Fallon appeared on the Dos Marcos “The Mattress Guys” podcast talking about MRC and America Recycles Day, how the program operates, new updates of interest to retailers and facts about mattress recycling in the U.S

New Collection Sites

Welcome City of Firebaugh

MRC would like to welcome City of Firebaugh to the mattress recycling program! Visit their listing on the Bye Bye Mattress website for more information. 
 
City of Firebaugh
8000 Helm Canal
Firebaugh, Ca. 93622 
Mattresses are accepted from residents Mon.-Fri., 8 am to 3 pm

Welcome Eastlake Landfill

MRC would like to welcome Eastlake Landfill to the mattress recycling program! They accept mattresses and box springs from Lake County residents and businesses. Visit their listing on the Bye Bye Mattress website for more information. 
 
Eastlake Landfill
16015 Davis Ave.
Clearlake, Ca. 95422 
Mattresses are accepted for recycling Mon.-Sun., 7:30 am to 3 pm. 

Welcome Impact Junk Removal

MRC would like to welcome Impact Junk Removal to the mattress recycling program! They accept up to 10 units from residents and businesses. Visit their listing on the Bye Bye Mattress website for more information.  
 
Impact Junk Removal
507 Broadway, Unit C
El Cajon, Ca. 92021 
Mattresses are accepted for recycling Mon.-Fri., 10 am to 3 pm. 

Welcome Town of Seymour Transfer Station

MRC would like to welcome the Town of Seymour Transfer Station to the mattress recycling program! Visit their listing on the Bye Bye Mattress website for more information.
 
Town of Seymour Transfer Station
116 Silvermine Rd.
Seymour, Ct. 06483
Mattresses are accepted for recycling Tue.-Sat., 7 am to 2:45 pm. 

For Retailers

Customer Education Materials

Samples:

For Collection Site & Event Hosts

Collection Site Hosts:

Find press releases, flyers, site signage and more!

Event Hosts:

Media alerts, flyers, posters, signage and more!

Recyclers in Your Area

California

Businesses need to make arrangements directly with recyclers. Those with at least 100 units may contact Joy Broussard for Commercial Volume Pickup.

Connecticut & Rhode Island

Businesses should contact our Northeast Program Coordinator Dan McGowan for arrangements.

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