Keeping waste out of landfill

and creating jobs for people who need them most

Why is recycling your mattress so important?

An incredible 1.8 million mattresses are thrown away each year in Australia, stretching from Darwin to the tip of Tasmania when laid end-to-end.

740,000 of these mattresses are sent to landfill, taking up huge amounts of limited landfill space and contributing significantly to environmental pollution. Meanwhile, the valuable resources contained within them – like steel and foam – are wasted.

Recycling all of Australia’s old mattresses instead of sending them to landfill is the solution.

Why choose Soft Landing?

Our manual dismantling method prioritises ethical, social and environmental outcomes.

This means we:

  • Separate mattress materials by hand to maximise recovery (we recover up to 75% of all mattress components) and avoid methods that are big users of power

  • Send the carefully separated, valuable materials to our partners for recycling, reuse and energy recovery

  • Create jobs for people with barriers to employment

75% recycling target

We recover up to 75% of all mattress components (the current industry maximum).

Materials recycled

We send steel to scrap metal recyclers, foam to carpet-underlay manufacturers,
and bed bases to local industry (where there is a market) for mulch.

STEEL SPRINGS

Steel springs enter the scrap steel market for recycling into new steel.

FOAM

Foam is recycled and can be used to create new products, like carpet underlay.

TIMBER & HUSK

Timber is diverted from landfill through multiple recycling streams.

TEXTILES

R&D, end use products such as acoustic panelling

Our impact

Last financial year we recycled:

6,300 tonnes of steel
per year

That’s equivalent to keeping approximately 3150 standard cars out of landfill.

819 tonnes of timber
per year

That’s equivalent to keeping approximately 500 house doors out of landfill.

2,400 tonnes of foam
per year

That’s equivalent to keeping approximately 43 backyard swimming pools full of foam out of landfill.

How we recycle

Our manual mattress dismantling method prioritises environmental outcomes.

It’s the ABSC’s preferred method of recycling, as it maximises recovery of sought-after resources used within mattresses. It involves careful separation and recovery of valuable materials, such as steel and foam, to prevent them from becoming waste.

We’re proud to say that through our manual method, we attain the current industry maximum for mattress resource recovery (up to 75% of all mattress components).

ILIESA LESIDAVUILEVU, SOFT LANDING SMITHFIELD

“Back home we don’t see these kinds of jobs in recycling. Coming here it was eye-opening to see Soft Landing recycling so much.”

Community Resources

JOBS THAT CARE FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET

Soft Landing is part of Community Resources, a national not-for-profit that runs some of the largest social enterprises in Australia and delivers a range of community services, employing 786 people last year, 67% of them experiencing barriers to employment.

Thank you for supporting us to care for people and planet.

For every 23 mattresses that we collect and recycle each day, we create a job for someone who really needs one.