California Senate Passes Mattress Recycling Bill; Connecticut’s Bill Becomes Law

A mattress recycling program bill has passed California’s senate, after the nation’s first mattress stewardship bill was signed into law in Connecticut.

The California Senate approved Senate Bill 254, which would create a used mattress recycling program that will reduce the impact of illegally dumped mattresses and take advantage of existing infrastructure for transporting used mattresses to recyclers, according to a news release. The program would be similar to existing recycling systems in California and other states for other consumer products.

The bill would create a non-profit mattress recycling organization that would develop a state system to collect discarded used mattresses, dismantle them and recycle their materials into new products. Funding for the program will come from a nominal fee collected at retail outlets on the sale of new mattresses and box springs.

The bill now moves to the state Assembly for committee hearings and a floor vote.

In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy signed into law the first mattress stewardship bill in the United States.

The law requires the mattress industry to develop a stewardship organization that will provide free collection and recycling services to municipalities, which include storage containers for municipalities to gather mattresses at transfer stations. The program will be financed by a fee that mattress producers will pass onto retailers, who will then pass it on to consumers, according to a news release from the Boston-based Product Stewardship Institute Inc.

A stewardship plan will be submitted to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) by July 1, 2014.