Furniture and homeware retailer Ikea is encouraging mattress recycling in the UK in collaboration with its sister company The Furniture Recycling (TFR) Group.
Using an Ikea voucher code to get money off the mattress collection service, consumers can book a collection online via TFR Group’s consumer-facing arm The Mattress Recycling People. With the Ikea coupon, it costs consumers circa £40 per item to get mattresses collected from their homes.
TFR Group takes in the mattresses and breaks them down into raw materials that are fed back into the economy.
The goods are transported to a dedicated mattress recycling centre, where they are assessed then fed into process lines and dismantled into circa 19 different components, although the exact number depends on the type of mattress.
Ikea said those components are then segregated, sanitised and processed. Steel springs are baled up ready to be recycled into new products, textiles are blended and baled ready for transferring onto industry as raw products for further processing, foam pads are reprocessed into new products in Ikea’s warehouses, and all the materials are then used in newly manufactured products.
By using the recycling service, consumers are effectively paying to help support a more circular economy and the reuse of parts.
Since 2012, TFR Group says it has recycled more than 3.5 million mattresses, with 30,000 tonnes of material reportedly flowing back into the economy.
In 2022, RetourMatras, a Netherlands-based mattress recycling company that is co-owned by Ingka Investments, which is the investment arm of Ikea parent Ingka Group, acquired TFR Group. According to Ikea, this investment has enabled the business to triple its dismantling capacity, which now stands at 1.5 million mattresses per year.
Beyond the recycling and dismantling for parts, Ikea said it also plans to use TFR Group’s mattress rejuvenation service in the near-future for bespoke sanitation process for returned mattresses. This would mean that instead of returned mattresses going to landfill, which is often the case, they can be cleaned “to NHS standards” and verified ready for resale at discounted prices or redistribution to support local communities.
Commenting on the mattress recycling initiative, Greg Lucas, sustainability manager at Ikea UK, which has introduced the circular economy into much of its marketing messaging in the last few years, said: “Partnerships like this are crucial to overcoming long-term environmental challenges like mattress waste and advancing our ‘People and Planet Positive’ journey, while supporting as many customers as possible in living a more sustainable life at home.”
Nick Oettinger, CEO & founder of TFR Group, added: “We are proud to support Ikea UK, helping to further strengthen the business’ sustainability offering through our mattress removal and recycling service.
“By stripping each mattress back and recycling its component parts, together we are able to contribute to the circular economy and ensure that a bulky waste stream is recycled and diverted from landfill, delivering long-term environmental benefits.”
[Image credit: Green Retail World]
