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From Home Furnishing Business

IMS Retailers Recycle 1 Million Pounds of Mattress Material

November 1, 2013  by in Green, Industry, Mattresses, Product   

Instead of going to landfills, the materials will be used for new and different purposes.
 
“It’s exciting to know that we’re leading the mattress industry nationwide with our mattress recycling efforts,” said Winfield, W.Va.-based Innovative Mattress Solutions President and CEO Kim Knopf. IMS is the parent firm of Mattress Warehouse, Sleep Outfitters and Mattress King.

According to Spring Back Mattress Recycling in Nashville, Tenn., IMS's partner in the mattress recycling process, IMS stores had shipped Spring Back 13,566 used mattresses and box springs as of Sept. 27, equaling 1,022,470 pounds of recycled mattress waste so far this year.

Discarded mattresses are clogging the nation’s landfills. They are difficult to compact and can take years to decompose. Their steel innersprings tear up landfill equipment, and they can absorb hazardous materials into flammable air pockets, causing landfill fires.

Americans discard 30 million mattresses every year, according to Spring Back Mattress Recycling. Mattress Warehouse, Sleep Outfitters and Mattress King are reducing that number by recycling old mattresses hauled off from customers’ homes after they’ve bought a new mattress set.

“We’re trying to do our part to be an eco-friendly company and keep discarded mattresses out of our communities’ landfills,” said Knopf.

IMS sends about 400 mattresses a week to Spring Back where they are torn apart so the mattress components can be used for other purposes.