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BedTimes, Industry News, October 2008

Transworld creates new mattress recycling system

From bed to shred
This recycling system from Transworld Recycling Machinery Ltd. grinds mattress and foundation components.

The dismantling of used mattresses and recycling the reclaimed materials is a time-consuming, labor-intensive process. Attempts to mechanize the operation have not been successful.

Transworld Recycling Machinery Ltd., with headquarters in Nottinghamshire, England, has built a mattress recycling system to address this situation. The machine grinds used mattresses and foundations and then separates and bales the ground material. The system is being used by Hypnos, a producer of luxury beds based in Buckinghamshire, England.

Based on initial results, the TRM machine can handle mattresses and foundations of any size and processes between 95 and 105 mattresses per hour, according to Nick Pickard of TRM. The machine has been used to process innerspring mattresses with fiber padding, solid foam mattresses and foundations made of wood, fiber and steel.

TRM’s system uses a single mandrel with blades that grind the components against a fixed blade. The ground material falls through a grid, which can be changed to larger or smaller mesh to control the size of the output, and onto sorting conveyors. The vibrating conveyors help spread out the ground material and a magnet removes the steel. The remaining material, or “flock,” then passes into a baler. One advantage of the system is that it reduces the used steel to a 2-inch size that can command premium scrap prices.

Operators of the system—it currently requires three—can adjust the conveyor and separation paths of the system, depending on what material is being processed.

The International Sleep Products Association’s Mattress Disposal Work Group is examining this new system. As the company gains more experience with the machine’s capabilities and operating costs, careful attention will be given to whether a mechanized dismantling approach would be commercially practical in the United States and elsewhere, said Ryan Trainer, ISPA executive vice president and general counsel.