Nothing rubbish about recycling operation

But that might be even harder following the official opening of Garbologie’s mattress recycling centre in Bibra Lake last week.

The centre was set up as a place where mattresses go to be dismantled by hand and machine, with components sold to recyclers.

With a successful boutique store in O’Connor and future ventures planned, Garbologie founder Adam Johnson was confident his team would not be caught napping, resolute in his desire to convert waste into useful by-products.

‘This is the third mattress recycling operation I’ve established,’ he said.

‘The first was in Melbourne when we needed to preserve the life of a landfill that was nearly full – mattresses take up lots of space. Then, when setting up Garbologie, I decided that mattress recycling would be the first thing to get going because it’s pretty easy and is of clear financial and operational benefit to landfill operators. Now, every landfill operator in Perth with the exception of the City of Rockingham recycles mattresses.’

The centre is currently recycling about 600 mattresses per week but expects that to lift to about 1500 to coincide with verge collections.

The Waste Authority seemed impressed too, with chairman Marcus Geisler handing the company $100,000 via the State Government’s Strategic Waste Initiatives Scheme.

‘It’s great to see someone who wants to get the full economic potential out of a resource,’ he said.

More information at garbologie.com.