Lyndsay McCready
Moose Jaw Times-Herald
According to a local business owner and a city official, it is time for the province to step up to the plate in the recycling of mattresses.
According to City Engineer Ryan Johnson, Saskatchewan is one of the few provinces still lacking a strong recycling mandate.
He would like to see the province take the recycling of mattresses and create a stewardship program, like it has done with other products in the past.
"We have said this many, many times: we would really like to see the province step in and take the bull by the horns (in terms of recycling)."
He said the city would like to see the province create a similar recycling program for mattresses as it has for old tires, paint, computers, oil and oil products.
Johnson explained that a recycling program, similar to those previously created, would include an added cost when someone purchases a mattress and safe disposal by a third party, when the purchaser is done with that mattress.
"Where a program like this is best suited is a provincial initiative, where every mattress bought in Saskatchewan has an added surcharge of $10, $20 or whatever that number is. All of that money goes into a provincial coffer that is then released to a third party . . . That party would then take all of the mattresses in the province, recycle them and be paid through the surcharge coffer."
However, Johnson said for a program like this to see results, it would have to be a provincial initiative. It could not be a city-by-city program.
He said by working the system this way, it makes more sense to the consumer. Johnson said no one wants to pay at the end when what they want to dispose of is worthless. However, if people are paying at the beginning, they can see an end result.
In the case of the Moose Jaw Enviro Mattress Depot, the city's mattress recycling plant, Johnson said the business had to shut down because, from what he understands, the money it was receiving from the city was not enough to keep it afloat.
According to Neil Montgomery, one of the mattress depot's owners, the company was only receiving $7 for every mattress it recycled. The problem with that was it cost the company around $22 to properly dispose of all the materials in each mattress.
He said unfortunately, at no fault of the city, the program was not sustaining a viable business.
Like Johnson, Montgomery said he to would like to see the province step in.
He said there is a need for this type of recycling and is hopeful he can work something out with the province, in the near future.
Lyndsay McCready can be reached at 691-1256.
City wants provincial mattress recycling program
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- Published on June 12th, 2009
- Published on July 10th, 2009
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Lyndsay McCready
Times-Herald
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Comments
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- J
- - September 18th, 2009 at 17:27:12
I think it would be a grat idea to have a surcharge on Mattresses to be used to cover the costs to recycle them. We have an enviromental levy on pop cans, bottles and other containers, as well as tires, oil etc. It is a fact of life that we must reduce our trash by recycling and that costs money. Having the users pay through a levy would ensure fairness and uniformity. The above remarks that low income people buying a $300 Mattress would some how suffer by having to pay the same levy as the levy charged on a $1200 unit is just rhetoric. The levy on tires and batteries is a flat fee and tire prices can range from $40 or less to well over $300 for certain truck tires etc. Sarcan and the tire recycling program each went through a few bumps in the road but both now employs several people and have a steady market for their materials and our ditches and landfills are better for these programs.
Recycling Mattresses could prove to be just as good a project. Yes someone will probably make a buck or two but that is what Busines is all about. not everything can, nor will be, just a cost recovery project. Human nature dictates that if there is no rewards there will be no effort. I hope we can get a levy for a recycling system in place very soon that will not only keep mattresses out of our landills but create a few jobs as well. The solution is not name calling and making disparaging remarks towards someone trying to make a difference, but support, flexibility and forward thinking that will solve a problem that will only get worse if nothing is soon done about it. Only a Provincial initiative imposing a levy on Mattresses will allow progress towards a solution to begin. I applaude Mr. Montgomery's initiative. He needs our full support and not our critisism...and we will all be better off. -
- Cave
- - September 18th, 2009 at 17:16:47
Neil Montgomery...as in the River Street developer, Neil Montgomery? Please tell me they are not the same individual. If that is the same individual, it's an awfully scary thing to think of what he will do when the River Street development doesn't make it, due to his obvious math lacking ability. You can be ecstatic when you only pay $20 a night for his hotels, but don't be surprised if you end up paying through the nose in tax bailouts to help the business a couple years down the road.
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- Humberto D
- - September 18th, 2009 at 17:12:20
Say what you will JR but the math does not add up and you can find many studies to point to same.
You point to can recycling which only strengthens my argument. Can and pop bottle recycling works (80 percent return rate) because there is a financial incentive for the end user to return same. What is being proposed here is a lavy. A very different scenario.
As to name calling? I am just calling it as I see it.
It is very hard to take a city councilor seriously when she says that the matresses could be recycled for the steel (very expensive to do as it requires a special press) and that the wood in the frames could be used for hardwood flooring. Give me a break. we are going to use the wood in mattress frames to make hardwood flooring? Does she even have a clue?
Mr. Montgomery knew the numbers when he bought the business. They knew there was dump fees. Yet we paid 10 dollARS TO DROP OFF A MATTRESS, he got 8.50, and gets to return the used ones for free? He made money on the ones he had left without doing anything.
Are you saying we should waive fees for every business that does not do the math? -
- Fred
- - September 18th, 2009 at 16:48:00
Maybe can do something about all the flyers going up around town, but never taken down!!!
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- J
- - September 18th, 2009 at 16:33:49
Humberto D: Most Furniture Stores deliver your mattress and take away the old one as a Service. Those Mattresses would be recycled without a problem. Tires that are changed at your local tire shop are picked up and recycled. Batteries that are replaced are picked up and recycled. Tires dumped off at the dump are picked up and recycled. Do not see a pattern here? If a levy is applied to each Mattress purchased there will be money already available to be used to pick up and recycle the mattresses just like the Tire Program. As far as only 80% of cans being recycled that is probably right but cross the provincial Border into Manitoba or Alberta where no Sarcan (or equivilant) is present and look at the garbage in the ditches. Manitoba residents I know wish they had a Sarcan in the worst way. They pay a eco levy and don't really get much for it. The sooner a Mattress Levy is made mandatory the sooner we will solve the problem. Complaining that it won't work didn't stop the tire Recycling Plant from becoming a good Business with nearly $800,000 placed into it's Reserve Fund in 2008 and paying out over $160,000 in wages. It has taken a few years but by year's end all scrap tires will have been removed from Municipal Landfills in Saskatchewan. Mattress Recycling can be just as effectively done if we are willing to do it. Let's get it done sooner than later.
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- Humberto D
- - September 18th, 2009 at 16:32:50
I am all for saving the environment but put your hand back in your pocket Mr. Montgomery. In order for recycling to work, it has been proven that it has to make even a bit of financial sense.
You knew what the rules were when you bought the existing business yet when the numbers did not add up you went to the city for a handout in the form of waiving of dump fees. Nice. I wonder if I open a restaurant and it fails the city will waive my taxes or water bill.
At the city council meeting, it was revealed that the levy would have had to be 30 dollars per mattress to make your operation work.
You did some horrible math and now you want the general public to bail you out.
I realize what you are now proposing is an upfront charge. It is one thing to pay 5 dollars when buying a 500 dollar television but to pay 30 dollars when buying a mattress will not fly. This is especially true for poor people who would probably pay the same levy on an entry level 300 dollar mattress as on a similar sized 1200 dollar mattress.
Something needs to be done about the problems of mattresses. But Saskatchewan is sparsely populated and if you think trucking mattresses to your business from all over the province to your operation makes any sense you need to redo your math.
A better way to help the environment is to start using less. We in North America are 5 percent of the world's population and use 40 percent of its resources. We take it as a God given right for a family of 4 to live in a 2500 square foot house in a country with our climate. We drive huge automobiles in a province where distances between population centres are much greater than in Europe.
So I say once again Mr. Montgomery, learn some math skills and then teach them to Regina Segal Hendry.
