Mattress, textile disposal ban now effective in Massachusetts, US

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) recently announced a new grant offering to invest in expanding the infrastructure for collecting food waste, mattresses and textiles.

Additionally, MassDEP supports business waste reduction, recycling and composting initiatives through the RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts programme.

Massachusetts has an extensive collection infrastructure of both non-profit and for-profit textile recovery organisations that can find a new use for these materials, either through selling or donating for reuse, or recycling into products such as carpet padding, insulation, or wiping rags.

“Recovering textiles is an excellent opportunity for our cities and towns to reduce trash disposal from their residents at the same time as they get paid for the valuable textiles that they recover,” said MassDEP commissioner Martin Suuberg.

Massachusetts has established a statewide mattress recycling contract that includes five recycling companies that can serve Massachusetts municipalities that establish mattress recycling programmes to serve their residents.

MassDEP has provided grants to several of those companies, as well as other Massachusetts-based mattress recyclers, to increase the capacity to manage mattresses, as well as to create new job opportunities.

The state generates approximately 600,000 unwanted mattresses per year, about 200,000 of them from residents, with the rest coming from businesses and institutions. MassDEP has provided grants to help establish mattress recycling programs in 137 municipalities.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)