California Mattress Recycling Bill Becomes Law

Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law the state’s mattress recycling bill.

S.B. 254 makes California the third state in the country to adopt a producer responsibility law for mattress end of life.

Brown did call for the California Senate to clean up ambiguous language in the bill during the next legislative session, according to a news release from the Boston-based Product Stewardship Inc. He expressed concern regarding "language that appears to limit the regulatory authority of the department (of Resources Recycling and Recovery) and the requirement that the department reduce its administrative costs by the amount of penalties it collects."  

The law requires mattress manufacturers to create and manage a mattress recycling organization that will provide recycling services to municipalities for free. The program will be financed by a visible mattress recycling charge, or "eco-fee," which will be collected from consumers at the point of sale.

 The mattress recycling organization must submit a plan detailing the operations of the program to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) by July 1, 2015.   

The law also requires the mattress stewardship council to reimburse costs for administration and oversight to CalRecycle.

“This is a great day for our industry, the environment and California consumers,” said Ryan Trainer, president of the Alexandria, Va.-based International Sleep Products Association, in a news release. “All stakeholders collaborated to help refine this legislation into a used mattress recycling policy that will provide a practical and innovative solution to a serious problem.”

Connecticut and Rhode Island passed similar mattress recycling laws earlier this year.