Creating a Soft Landing Since 2010
There’s nothing better than purchasing a brand new mattress, climbing in at night, or immediately for a cheeky nap, and enjoying each and every night thereafter ache and pain free. But what happens to your old mattress? Sure you could try selling it on marketplace, but those odds are not exactly in your favour. And a 10-year old, or perhaps older, mattress given to a friend that’s recently moved out or passed down to your kids as an ‘upgrade’ probably won’t go down too well. So, that leaves us with the last resort – hard rubbish collection. Or does it?
Since 2010, Soft Landing has been collecting and recycling old mattresses to help divert unnecessary waste from landfill, while recycling essential components to create new products and help create hundreds of jobs along the way. In fact, for every 35 mattresses that are collected and recycled by Soft Landing, they can create a job for someone who needs one. Which means that up to 65% of revenue made by the business goes to wages of people who experience barriers to employment and in turn, promotes economic growth within these local communities.
As a not-for-profit social enterprise, Soft Landing is governed by four key business objectives including; providing employment and training for local people who have experienced barriers, to protect the environment, support local communities and to be self-sustaining and cable of growth – and it’s fair to say these core values have never wavered even despite an unprecedented year combatting plant fires, machinery failures and even a global pandemic!
Soft Landing General Manager, Chris Richards, exemplifies their resolute mission statement in the 2020 Annual Report when referring to their core workforce growth of 50% stating, “while we are thrilled to provide so many employment and training opportunities for people who need them, we must continue to shape our operating model in the year ahead to futureproof our business.”
Just take a look at some of these numbers! Since the very beginning Soft Landing has diverted 7.3K tonnes of waste from landfill, recycled 465K mattresses and provided 220 employment opportunities across the country for people in need. And SleepMaker has been there every step of the way, witnessing this unprecedented growth as a Founding Member and continued Product Stewardship member of the programme.
That’s right! SleepMaker recognised a dire need to help reduce the amount of mattresses from ending up in landfill when they reach their ‘end of life’, especially when the internal components can be repurposed to create a wide range of new household products. To put this into perspective, Soft Landing is able to recycle up to 75% of internal mattresses components, with the steel springs being used to create roof sheeting, foam converted into carpet underlay, timber and husk repurposed into kindling, weed matting, mulch, acoustic panelling and even animal bedding.
At SleepMaker, we can’t recommend how important sustainability and conscious product choices are, not just for our environment but for the future generations to come. It’s just one of the many reasons we use environmentally conscious materials such as TENCEL, GECA-approved products and natural latex, organically sourced from rubber trees, all while ensuring almost every square inch of our mattresses can be recycled and repurposed.
We highly recommend recycling your mattress with Soft Landing, not only to prevent your old bed from ending up in landfill, but to help create employment for disadvantaged Australians, and with recycling sites in Victoria, Sydney, ACT, Queanbeyan, Newcastle, WA, Illawarra and the city of Armadale, WA, booking a collection from your home has never been easier.
For online bookings:
Head to https://www.softlanding.com.au/online-bookings
Select your location
Agree to the T&Cs
Fill in your details
Confirm payment and wait for information regarding your collection day
Once confirmed, place your mattress/es on your nature strip by 6am on the day of collection
And that’s it!
There are drop-off points available for your old mattress/es if you’d prefer a manual disposal method.
