Australian Bedding Stewardship Council Sustainability Commitments
2024
Reduction of mattresses and their recovered materials ending up in landfill
The ABSC is committed to reducing the number of mattresses and their component materials from ending up in landfill through innovation and an expanded approved recycler network to serve all of Australia. We hope to identify other uses for those materials recovered to give them a new life at their highest value. We will support recyclers that operate ethically and responsibly and build a national network to provide consumers, industry and councils with options to avoid landfill and discourage dumping. Through our expanded recycler network, we have recycled over 750,000 mattresses between June 2024 and March 2025. We continue to grow the network and divert end of life mattresses from landfill.
2024
Address product design for a more circular approach
The ABSC kicked off three projects in 2024 to evaluate where traditional mattress design principles can be reviewed and improved in terms of recyclability, longevity and circularity. In partnership with Robovoid, Circular Beds, and Sustainability Victoria, the Circular Beds fully recycled and recyclable bed base was launched in November 2024. In partnership with Swinburne University, we have made significant strides towards a fully recycled and recyclable mattress. Research, development, and commercialisation of these separate products continues throughout 2025.
2024
Social use and reuse
The industry is experiencing an increase in the offer of comfort returns to consumers and recyclers are seeing an increase in mattresses being presented for recycling that are not at their end of life. During 2024, the ABSC to kicked off a project to work to connect clean, good quality mattresses with communities in need. This project will deliver clear guidance to retailers for quality assessment, processes and guidelines for the treatment of comfort returns and used mattresses to ensure the health of those receiving and using secondhand mattresses.
2025
ABSC Approved Recycler Network Expansion
The ABSC has double the number of approved mattress recyclers in Australia, including key areas like Western Australia, Far North Queensland, and Tasmania. The ABSC approval is a robust process that is available to mattress recyclers who ensure safe and environmentally responsible collection, storage and recovery of end-of-life mattresses and their component materials. Using an approved recycler gives businesses, councils and consumers confidence that "real" recycling is taking place and their goods are responsibly disposed of. We continue to engage mattress recyclers to grow the approved recycler network, support recyclers adding bedding to the service offering, and connecting councils & businesses to ABSC Approved Recyclers. Over a 9 month period, ABSC Approved Recyclers have recycled over 750,000 mattresses, diverting steel & timber from landfill, ensured safe disposal of mattress shred, and explored waste to energy options for mattress components without offtake markets.
2026
Mattress Design for Remote First Nations Communities
The Mattress Design for Remote First Nations Communities Project aims to address these challenges head-on. During our first community visit to Urapunga, NT, it became clear that immediate action was needed—many community members were sleeping on the floor, with no access to appropriate bedding. In response, we quickly engaged our members and mobilized resources to deliver mattresses, bed bases, and bedding essentials for trial in remote communities. These items will be available for purchase via community-owned Remote OpShops. There has been a lot of interest in the trials from the Remote OpShop leaders. This interim solution will meet the urgent need while we continue developing long-term, sustainable bedding designed for remote conditions and supporting a circular economy. Our process is rooted in community collaboration, respecting local knowledge to co-create culturally appropriate, durable, and sustainable bedding. Our Industry Partner, Robovoid, and new member Social Living, have led this effort. Social Living, a social enterprise dedicated to circular economy, assembles the newly designed circular bed bases from Robovoid for trialling on country with the Urapunga community. Two of our other members, Vendella, and Zinus, have provided essential bed bases, mattresses, mattress protectors, and logistics support, making this rapid response possible. The ABSC is committed to Product Stewardship and sees this project as an extension of our duty to promote not only environmental but also social responsibility. We thank the Remote OpShop Project for their leadership on this project, as well as our industry partners and members for their invaluable contributions. We look forward to continuing this journey toward sustainable, respectful, and practical solutions for First Nations communities.
2026
Top of Bed Working Group Launched
We are thrilled to announce the formation of the Top of Bed Working Group. This is a massive step forward for the ABSC as we expand our scope from mattresses and ensemble bed bases into the world of pillows, mattress protectors, linens, and similar textiles. This effort has been germinating over the past year under the strong leadership of Tracey Pryor, our Director of Innovation. Tracey’s expertise and extensive background in textiles have positioned her as the key driver for this expansion within the ABSC. Why now? Every year, a staggering amount of bedding ends up in landfill. Our vision is simple and bold: A circular top of bed industry where nothing goes to waste. We want to ensure that every sheet, quilt, and protector sold in Australia can be reused, recycled, or returned to raw inputs.
2026
Reduction of mattresses and their recovered materials ending up in landfill
The ABSC is committed to reducing the number of mattresses and their component materials from ending up in landfill through innovation and an expanded approved recycler network to serve all of Australia. We work to identify other uses for those materials recovered to give them a new life at their highest value. We will support recyclers that operate ethically and responsibly and build a national network to provide consumers, industry and councils with options to avoid landfill and discourage dumping. Through our expanded recycler network, we have recycled over 2,000,000 mattresses between June 2024 and March 2026. We continue to grow the network and divert end of life mattresses from landfill.
2026
Mattress Cost Calculator for Councils
Councils and landfill operators face a unique challenge - paying for recycling hits the P&L as a cost line item while landfill space appears to be free. This new tool, The Mattress Cost Calculator, developed in partnership with Resource Hub provides visibility of the true cost of mattresses in landfill. While landfill may appear to be the cheaper option, mattresses consume valuable airspace, create operational challenges and accelerate landfill capacity pressures. The Mattress Cost Calculator provides a transparent way to quantify these impacts and compare them against alternative recovery and recycling pathways.
2026
Better Bedding for Hotels
The Better Bedding for Hotels Program, developed by the Australian Bedding Stewardship Council (ABSC), provides a practical, industry-led solution to address this challenge. Built on circular economy principles, the program enables hotels to transition from fragmented disposal practices to a coordinated, transparent, and measurable system for bedding management. It integrates stewardship, logistics coordination, reuse pathways, recycling, and reporting into a single, scalable framework aligned with evolving ESG and regulatory requirements. Through participation, hotels gain access to verified recycling and reuse pathways, coordinated supply chain management, and comprehensive sustainability reporting. This enables organisations to reduce landfill, recover valuable materials, support community outcomes through donation, and generate credible data for ESG disclosures, NABERS performance, and broader sustainability frameworks. The program delivers value across environmental, social, operational, and commercial dimensions. It simplifies complex processes, mitigates supplier and reputational risks, enhances brand positioning, and supports alignment with national and global sustainability goals. Importantly, it allows hotels to embed circular economy principles into everyday operations without adding operational burden. The Better Bedding for Hotels Program ultimately represents a clear pathway for the hospitality sector to move toward a more sustainable and circular future, one that is practical to implement, transparent in outcomes, and aligned with the expectations of an increasingly sustainability-focused market.
2026
Solving the Steel Stalemate
What used to be the circular hero of the bedding industry is now being stockpiled and ending up in landfill due to complexities in the steel market and resource recovery system. The ABSC’s Plan: Connecting the Dots We aren’t just watching the steel stockpiles grow. The ABSC is taking direct action to clear the blockage in the value chain: CEO, Kylie Roberts-Frost, is in active discussions across the industry, with traders, processers, and producers, to define the technical specifications needed for mattress steel to flow back into their furnaces. We are lobbying state governments to invest in modernised recycling hubs. These facilities will feature the right equipment to process complex coils into a furnace-ready product. Our Director of Innovation, Tracey Pryor, is working with our Approved Recycler Network to gather the hard data on “floc” ratios and processing costs. This data is essential for de-risking the market for steel traders.
2027
Transforming Waste: Turning End-of-Life Mattresses into High-Performance Insulation
This ABSC-led project explores a natural way to turn mattress shred into a useful insulation material. Using a fungus, the Swinburne University research team has developed a process that helps bind together shredded mattress foam and textiles into a lightweight material. Early results show that the material has promising insulation performance and remains highly stable when exposed to very high temperatures. Why This Matters for Circularity This innovation has the potential to address one of the key material challenges in mattress resource recovery: Diverting Waste: Over 1.8 million mattresses are discarded in Australia every year. This approach could help give some of those materials a valuable second life. Heat Resistance: Early testing indicates that the material remains highly stable at temperatures approaching 1000°C, supporting its potential for insulation applications, especially where strong thermal stability is important. More Sustainable Materials: By using recovered mattress materials and a biologically based process, this work supports the development of lower-impact alternatives for the built environment.
