Lots of news these days about how online mattress companies are fueling a global recycling nightmare. Now small companies like ours can only marvel at the money being spent by venture capital funded start up mattress companies. This month Casper, a start-up with no profits to date and seeking millions in IPO funding for further growth, released some of the following statistics (1) they believe 50% of mattress purchases in the US will soon be purchased online - by shoppers who don't visit stores, and (2) 25% - yes 25% - of these purchases will be returned as unsatisfactory. The challenge here is that these returned mattresses cannot be resold - so while some few may be donated to charity, the vast majority of these returns are just sent to the dump.
Now my calculator maybe a bit rusty, but my friends in the recycling industry tell me that if our industry gets both the online sales growth and the unsatisfactory mattress returns projected here, our planet is in trouble. These BRAND NEW returns will wind up being equal to a 95 mile long line of mattress trash at the dump each year. And truth is the polyethylene plastics in these mattresses will never decompose. NEVER!
We green consumers may be a small portion of the economy - but we are growing and we can appreciate how nuts the rest of the economy can be. Our kids can teach us not to use plastic straws, or to avoid one use plastics at the grocery store - but who teaches us not to purchase a 300 lb plastic mattress? (How many thousands of recycled straws would that be?!)
As always, we appreciate your support for our business. We don't aspire to raise millions in venture capital, or to lose money for years to increase our sales. We believe in paying our way as we go, to not pass along our costs to our trash services, and promise you both healthy sleep and a sustainable, biodegradable, product you can trust. We only wish every mattress business out there believed as we do!
Read more via the link to three articles below:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/12/mattress-landfill-crisis-recycling-nightmare
https://business-ethics.com/2010/09/17/4918-plastic-grocery-bags-how-long-until-they-decompose/
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No matter what kind of product you’re looking to purchase these days, there is almost always guaranteed to be many ways to go about buying, and always a multiplicity of options to choose from. Whether you’re buying online or walking into a brick-and-mortar store, it is important to know a little bit about the ‘natural’ product you’re buying
Mike Schaefer
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