Australian Manufacturing Forum
August 2025

Social enterprise Soft Landing, which was recently awarded a grant from the state government’s Circular Economy Investment Program, has shared its plans to establish Queensland’s “first dedicated mattress recycling site to offer non-virgin material streams including steel, timber and textiles”.

According to a statement from the company on Wednesday, it will collaborate with South East Queensland council to scale up operations, create new local jobs and reduce material going into landfill.

David Petrie, Soft Landing’s General Manager, said “This funding will allow us to innovate, expand, and make a real impact – not just environmentally, but economically too.”

According to its website, Soft Landing recycled 819 tonnes of timber, 2,400 tonnes of foam and 6,300 tonnes of steel last financial year.

Mattresses are dismantled using a “careful, manual recycling process that maximises resource recovery”, with components sorted, collected and sent to local companies for mulch, to carpet underlay manufacturers and to scrap metal recyclers.

Community Resources – which Soft Landing is part of – runs one of eight projects awarded between $250,000 and $750,000 in May through the Circular Economy Investment Program, totalling $5 million.

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