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One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
That’s how the recycling industry sees Massachusetts’ ban on throwing fabric and mattresses in the trash.
From November 1, these new disposal rules include clothes, shoes, bedding, towels, curtains, fabrics and similar products. However, they do not cover items contaminated with mold, bodily fluids, insects, oil or hazardous substances, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.
Mattresses — defined by state regulators as “any resilient material or combination of materials with ticking, alone or combined with other products and intended for sleeping on” — also cannot be taken to landfills.
According to the DEP, Massachusetts throws 250,000 tons of textiles into landfills each year.
About 600,000 mattresses are thrown away each year by only one-third of its residents. And while that represents only 16,500 tons of waste per year, the agency says, “this ton has a disproportionate impact because mattresses are bulky, difficult to handle and take up a lot of space in solid waste facilities.”
MassDEP believes that at least one-third of these mattresses, or more than 5,000 tons per year, could be diverted from landfills to recycling outlets.
Regulators noted that there are more than 25 textile recycling and recycling operations in the state. That’s enough for the current municipal recycling participation rate, which accounts for about half of the Commonwealth’s towns and cities.
But given the scope of this mandatory statewide ban, more recyclers could enter the Massachusetts market.
That represents both an opportunity and a challenge for one of the current recycling worriers, the Lowell-based United Tin Equity Center, better known as UTEC.
A nonprofit organization for at-risk young adults currently operates a successful mattress recycling program out of a facility in Lawrence.
UTEC started recycling mattresses in 2011. Since then, UTEC has expanded its operations to various communities, including hotels, colleges and furniture stores in northern New England.
We currently provide mattress recycling to many local communities including Acton, Cambridge, Framingham, Hanson, Hanover, Kingston, Lowell, Marblehead, Medfield, Needham, Newburyport, Norwood, Pembroke, Sherborne, and Winchester.
When UTEC diverts mattresses from the waste stream, 85% by weight is recycled. Her young workers cut the mattresses by hand and recycle the metal, foam, wood, some roofing and cotton.
UTEC’s commitment to upcycling and recycling mattresses has not gone unnoticed.
In the year In 2015, Mass. DEP selected UTEC as a qualified provider of Massachusetts statewide mattress recycling services, and in 2016, UTEC received MassRecycle’s Institutional Award.
But even if it’s successful, UTEC’s group of young adults who pick up and dispose of these mattresses are wary of competing with well-heeled conglomerates for a big slice of Massachusetts’ recycling pie.
UTEC CEO Greg Croteau said competition from better-funded and larger companies threatens the unique services it provides to youth in communities with complex barriers to employment.
Croteau and his team had hoped that a bill authored by Lowell state Sen. Ed Kennedy that would protect nonprofits like UTEC in this new use area would pass before the end of the regular legislative session.
This did not happen, although efforts to overcome the passage continued.
UTEC has been active in providing socioeconomic opportunities to at-risk Lowell and Lawrence youth, efforts recognized by the Baker-Polito administration.
It steers young people away from gang and criminal activities and equips them with valuable workplace skills, in this case the recycling and recycling of items previously discarded as waste.
The UTEC Group can hold its own in this new usage landscape. A niche in the Merrimack Valley was carved out and has since proven to be a sustainable business model.
From this challenge, we see opportunities for UTEC to expand its recycling reach.
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