The RAMR is the “brainchild” of a steering group comprising two UK trade associations, the Textile Recycling Association (TRA) and the National Bed Federation (NBF). A number of mattress recyclers, manufacturers, retailers, waste management firms and local authority representatives were also involved.
A new company limited by guarantee, the Mattress Recycling Association Ltd, has been set up to administer RAMR. In the early stages, this service is being provided by the NBF and the TRA – but as the membership grows, it is anticipated that the membership will be sufficient to support itself.
Alan Wheeler and Jessica Alexander of the TRA and NBF are directors of the Mattress Recycling Association.
Mr Wheeler said: “Unfortunately, recycling can attract traders who do not uphold the rules and regulations established to protect business, customers and workers. When a group of mattress recyclers approached us to collaborate on working out a way of tackling this problem and giving them the ability to prove their professional credentials, the idea of RAMR evolved.”
Sites
With mattresses being one of the most commonly fly-tipped items, the register will look to give people and businesses the reassurance that the company taking mattresses has been fully audited.
Blackburn-based The Furniture Recycling Group, Midlands-based Circom and Kent-based SSSI (aka Matt UK) all have sites which have passed the audits required to be accepted as RAMR approved mattress recycling plants.
All the sites listed as RAMR-approved have been “carefully vetted and audited in-person by an independent, accredited firm of auditors against a stringent set of criteria to ensure they are trading legally, complying with all relevant regulations and standards and recycling responsibly”.
The aim of RAMR is to help local authorities, public bodies and businesses
- Jessica Alexander, National Bed Federation
Regulations
Jessica Alexander, outgoing executive director of the National Bed Federation, added: “Diverting discarded mattresses from the waste disposal stream is widely accepted as both desirable and necessary. According to our research1, over 1.5 million mattresses – around 24% of the total disposed of annually – are already being diverted from landfill. We need assurance that this recycling is being done responsibly, and we needed a mechanism to support responsible recyclers in future, as the scale of mattress recycling is set to increase substantially in future against a backdrop of potential government regulation.
“The aim of RAMR is to help local authorities, public bodies and businesses wishing to dispose of used mattresses to identify responsible, reputable operators they can work with.”
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