site.btaUsed Sleeping Mattresses to Get Second Life in First Recycling and Recovery Project in Bulgaria

A Bulgarian company, Biocom, has started the first project in Bulgaria for recycling and recovery of used sleeping mattresses, Biocom Manager Gena Subeva and manager of the project Mariela Nacheva said at a BTA-hosted news conference on July 20. 

The aim is to recycle up to 30,000 mattresses for a period of five years. Some 8,000 to 10,000 mattresses are expected to be recycled in the first year of the project.

The five-year project was launched back in February and is funded under the Environment Operational Programme. In its first year, the project will get nearly BGN 360,000 in programme funding, while more than BGN 81,000 will be in the form of own financing. 

Biocom will build a facility for taking in used mattresses near the village of Peturch, near Sofia, where used mattresses from hotels, residence halls, and hospitals will be prepared for recycling or for re-use. Also collected will be used mattresses from stores which offer old for new trade-ins.

Nacheva said that 5% of the used mattresses are expected to be fit for re-use, after undergoing machine washing, steaming, dry disinfection, packaging and labelling for the cleaning and disinfection processes. According to Subeva, who has been in the mattress business for 30 years now, there is demand for such products. 

About 80% of the components of the disassembled mattresses are expected to be recyclable materials while 15-16% will be landfilled. 

Biocom's facility will initially collect mattresses form the area of Southwestern Bulgaria, the regions of Sofia, Kyustendil, Pernik and Blagoevgrad, thus covering 30% of the country's population. 

At the moment used mattresses in Bulgaria are neither recycled nor prepared for re-use and those of them which are not fly-tipped take up valuable space in waste-management facilities. 

According to Biocom data, about 350,000 mattresses are produced in this country annually, and 150,000 mattresses are imported. Estimates show that 70% of the newly purchased mattresses are for replacement of old ones which end up as waste for rubbish collection. 

Biocom is preparing a special website about the project, http://www.rematrak.bg/, which will be launched soon.