The year 2020-2021 may not have been a good one for many people but it's been a record one for social enterprise Soft Landing which collects and recycles mattresses nationally, including at Hume in the ACT.
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It has collected and recycled a record 44,855 mattresses and ensemble bases in the ACT over the last financial year, saving them from landfill. Instead, the foam was sent for carpet underlay, the steel for scrap metal and the timber for mulch.
Using National Recycling Week to announce the results, Soft Landing ACT manager Kylie Roberts-Frost said it was definitely the biggest year the social enterprise had ever had, with mattress volumes 16 per cent higher than the year before.
"The huge volumes were largely driven by the impacts of COVID-19 as industry and community members replaced mattresses at a higher rate during the pandemic," Ms Roberts-Frost said.
"It also highlights growing community awareness of the importance of recycling and reducing landfill."
Nationally, Soft Landing collected and recycled 538,000 mattresses and ensemble bases, another record.
Soft Landing diverts mattresses and ensemble bases from landfill and recovers the components to recycle. It also provides stable and meaningful jobs for people with barriers to employment. Of the 260 people employed in 2020-21, 79 per cent had faced some sort of challenge in entering the workforce.
"For every 35 mattresses that we collect and recycle each day, we can create a job for someone who really needs one," Ms Roberts-Frost said.
Soft Landing's site at Hume services the ACT Government and most of its employees are long-term unemployed or from ACT Corrections. Other target groups for the social enterprise are young people, Aboriginal people and former refugees.
Soft Landing aims to "create jobs while doing the right thing by the planet".
"We don't send materials overseas for disposal - we keep our by-products in Australia, support local companies, reduce transport mileage and maximise reuse of materials," Ms Roberts-Frost said.
"We send foam to Australian carpet-underlay manufacturers, steel to Australian scrap steel merchants, and timber bed bases to local industry for mulch.
"In 2020-21, we diverted 9124 tonnes of waste from landfill, recycling 7127 tonnes of steel, 924 tonnes of timber and 1073 tonnes of foam.
Soft Landing will pick up your mattress and ensemble for $55 per piece. Or you can drop it off at 4 John Cory Circuit in Hume for $32 a piece.
Megan Doherty
I like telling local stories and celebrating Canberra. Email: megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
I like telling local stories and celebrating Canberra. Email: megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
