Mattresses Matter: creating more jobs and minimising landfill by better mattress recycling in New South Wales
Petitioner:
Mrs Samantha Sachdev
| Member:
Parker, Jamie
| No. of Signatories:
767
| Date closed:
14/12/2021
To the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly,
Mattresses are recyclable, yet in Australia approx 1.8 million mattresses (or 500 olympic swimming pools) are going to landfill annually.
Mattress recycling companies (e.g Soft Landing, Mattress Recycle Australia) in NSW currently recycle the majority of materials within a mattress.
We applaud the Local Councils and Mattress Recycling companies who are currently partnering to reduce mattress waste sent to landfill and illegal dumping. All 128 NSW local councils need to offer mattress collection and recycling, including commercial addresses (e.g hospitals, motels).
We request the NSW government:
1. Mandate that every NSW local council:
a) partner with a Mattress Recycling Company
b) ensure all mattresses are eligible for collection from residential and commercial addresses in NSW, and recycled by a Mattress
Recycling Company
c) the council’s website states which Mattress Recycling Company it has partnered with, educating locals how to dispose of mattresses
2. Mandate all NSW Councils set targets by 2023 on reducing landfill caused by mattress waste
3. Mandate that mattress-related businesses (distributors + manufacturers + retailers) in NSW provide financial support to a Mattress Recycling Company, so they can scale e.g improve collecting mattresses from regional NSW, improve safety storage measures.
4. Fund R&D into converting mattress waste into end-use products. We want to see mattress collection and recycling scaled to support more NSW jobs.
5. Assist Mattress Recycling Companies expand their scope (e.g unusable soft furniture).
We seek 20,000 signatures to present this e-petition to NSW Parliament.
