A new recycling program in Kern County is steering a big truckload of old mattresses out of local landfills every day. County officials say the program is successful because it’s fully funded by an industry organization.
The mattress recycling started in Kern County at the first of the year, after the state requires collection of an $11 fee on each mattress purchase.
The California Used Mattress Recovery and Recycling Act kicked in last December. It also requires an $11 fee on each box spring that’s bought.
A viewer called Eyewitness News asking where his $22 is going.
The funds are being collected by an organization set up under the new law. The Mattress Recycling Council is a nonprofit group, and is certified by CalRecycle to run the program.
At Kern County’s Bena landfill, several semitrucks are pulled up to a special loading dock. Those trucks are paid for by the council.
“The mattress council covers the cost of the trucking, the trailers, the loading costs,” Waste Management specialist supervisor Chuck Magee explained, “and the processing costs when it gets to the recycler.”
Magee said since the county started the program 22,000 mattresses have been collected here.
“Which is about 150 trucks loads,” he said. “We’re averaging right at a truck load daily.”
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