We joined forces with Cunninghame Furniture Recycling Company (CFRC), in Irvine, to collect, sanitize and redistribute reusable mattresses through a bulky waste reuse service.
This reduces the number of mattresses going for disposal, and reduces North Ayrshire’s environmental footprint.
The project has also created training and employment opportunities, and offers a low-cost, credible alternative for residents hoping to furnish their homes on a budget.
At the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) event earlier this year, the delighted team picked up the Gold Award for waste and recycling (sponsored by Zero Waste Scotland).
These awards provide an opportunity for Scottish local authorities to demonstrate how they are going above and beyond when delivering fleet, waste and grounds services for their communities.
Funding for the initiative – just over £36,000 – came through the Scottish Government’s Recycling Improvement Fund (RIF) and it was launched in 2022.
Mattresses are often expensive to buy and are difficult to dispose of, and this innovative partnership to sanitise and reuse them has been a great success.
CFRC noticed an increase in demand from customers for reusable mattresses, and this led to a call for more donations through its alliance with the Council, the Scottish Welfare Fund and the Circular Communities Scotland (CCS) reuse consortium.
The RIF support helped buy four new mattress reuse containers for the Council’s Household Waste Recycling Centres and specialised industrial cleaning equipment for CFRC.
Specially-trained staff at CFRC clean and sanitise the mattresses to remove bacteria, viruses, odours and any marks using high pressure and steam to make them ready for resale – and there is a collection service for donations.
The Council’s Customer Services advisers already provided reused furniture for Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) customers, and the opportunity to get a reused mattress was added to the offer.
Buying reused mattresses at a reduced cost allowed the service to support even more vulnerable people who are on a low income.
David Mackay, Senior Manager for Waste Resources and Streetscene, said: “I would like to congratulate everyone who is involved in the scheme, which has many benefits for the environment and for residents as they continue to navigate their way through the Cost-of-Living Crisis.
“And I would encourage colleagues across all services to let friends and family know that the scheme exists.”
In 2023 the initiative:
- Collected 1,082 mattresses for sanitisation processing, and reuse or recycling. During this period, 82 per cent of the mattresses were sold for reuse, with the remaining 18 per cent being recycled by partner organisation Kingsize
- Supported around 900 families through the provision of affordable mattresses and beds, while permitting the SWF budget to support more vulnerable families
- Diverted 26.933 tonnes of waste from disposal and
- Helped save 71,412 kg of carbon.
For more information, or to donate a mattress, please go to the website here: Furniture recycling and mattress reuse (north-ayrshire.gov.uk)
Research suggests that more than 600,000 mattresses are sent for disposal each year in Scotland. Of this, approximately 15,000 mattresses will be disposed of in North Ayrshire.
The project is diverting approximately five per cent of this difficult waste to a more circular reuse approach, which complements the Scottish Government’s Circular Economy ambitions, and contributes to the Council’s wider Community Wealth Building, Climate Change, Net Zero and Zero Waste aspirations.
If the initiative was replicated across all of Scotland’s local authority areas, based on current performance, more than 40,000 mattresses could be saved from disposal annually.
A national approach could divert over 1,000 tonnes of waste mattresses from disposal annually and over 2,800,000 kg carbon could be saved each year.
“I would like to congratulate everyone who is involved in the scheme, which has many benefits for the environment and for residents as they continue to navigate their way through the Cost-of-Living Crisis. And, I would encourage colleagues across all services to let friends and family know that the scheme exists.”David Mackay, Senior Manager for Waste Resources and Streetscene