The three successful bidders are: the University of South Wales; environmental consultancy, Commons Vision; and the Furniture Recycling Group/Resource Futures. Each bidder has been awarded funding to undertake feasibility work and to produce detailed bids for a pilot-scale operation.
The competition was organised by Rhondda Cynon Taf and the Welsh Government, in partnership with Innovate UK. The three put forward a total of £350,000 for the studies and businesses were urged last autumn to come forward with their solutions for recycling textile materials in mattresses.
The council’s own mattress recycling scheme launched in 2012 when it unveiled a purpose-built machine which broke down components of a mattress. The council said the machine had the potential to recycle 100,000 mattresses a year.
(Above: video of mattress recycling at Rhondda Cynon Taf)
Rhondda Cynon Taf explained that while the separated steel has sustainable markets, potential textile recycling companies are ‘put off’ by the levels of contamination of the textile content that results during use.
Instead, the separated textiles are sent for energy recovery – which the council noted as a “less desirable form of waste management”.
In its project background information, Rhonnda Cynon Taf indicted that an opportunity for a pilot scheme in the future was possible at the Bryn Pica Waste Management Facility.
Value
According to the Welsh Government, the overall purpose of the competition was to demonstrate the technical, commercial and environmental viability of creating value from low grade textiles, wadding and foams resulting from the deconstruction of waste mattresses.
The Government said: “Successful applicants will provide innovative solutions demonstrating that these materials can be treated (either individually or in combinations) to form a feedstock, safe for use in closed loop recycling applications.”
Councillor Ann Crimmings, Rhondda Cynon Taf council’s cabinet member for environment and leisure, said: “The council’s recycling record is ever-improving, which was confirmed by the Welsh Government’s recent confirmation that 64% of Rhondda Cynon Taf’s overall waste was recycled in the 2016 calendar year. That puts us above the Welsh average, as we continue to work towards the 70% target by 2024-25.
“The mattress recycling competition has the potential to ensure every component of a mattress is recycled. I am looking forward to finding out more about the innovative solutions put forward for recycling mattress textiles as this unique competition progresses.”
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