Mattress Online calls for furnishing sector to raise the bar on recycling
Mattress Online has revealed that it has saved more than 40,000 mattresses from going to landfill in the last year.
The retailer is now looking to increase the number of customers who use its recycling scheme from a third to 40% and is calling on the wider furnishing sector to up its game and make it easier for customers to recycle.
Mattress Online chief executive Steve Adams said: “Since we introduced a collection and recycling service at Mattress Online, we’ve saved more than 100,000 mattresses going to landfill. This is a 344% increase over five years and clearly shows that customers want to recycle and make ethical decisions when shopping.
“One of our key corporate goals is to continually improve and promote our not-for-profit recycling service to make recycling mattresses as accessible to customers as possible. But the rest of the industry has to be equally committed.”
Mattress Online was recognised nationally for its commitment to sustainability at the Good Retail Awards on 6 February.
Catherine Erdly, founder of the Resilient Retail Club and judge at the Good Retail Awards, said: “From a sheer volume perspective, given the size of a mattress, the amount of space that must have been saved from landfill must be enormous. It is a great example of looking at lots of elements of a process to make the largest difference.”
Mattress Online also promotes sustainable products and gives customers informative content on how to reduce their carbon footprint and make ethical choices. In addition, it is currently investigating the use of reusable hessian packaging and is also minimising its use of plastic by using 100% recyclable polythene mattress bags made entirely from recycled content.
Adams added: “Sustainability is on the agenda in everything we do from providing our staff with new ethically sourced uniforms, to having 20% of our mattress range being chemical-free. We’ve also recently launched a vegan-friendly section on our website.”
