How did Washington’s correctional facilities get involved with mattress recycling?
TW: The Mattress Recycling Program is run through Correctional Industries which is a statewide program that operates 34 businesses within the state’s correctional facilities, and offers on-the-job training to offenders. Mattress recycling is our newest program. We look for business opportunities that won’t put others out of business. There are very few organizations doing mattress recycling in the U.S., so we took it on. We partnered with St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County in Eugene, Ore.; they have been doing mattress recycling for a number of years. Q: Where do the mattresses you recycle come from? TW: We are currently collecting mattresses from landfills and recycling events. We recently collected more than 250 mattresses from a recycling event in Federal Way. Of course, we recycle old mattresses from within the correctional facilities. By recycling mattresses from Department of Corrections’ facilities we are saving the agency approximately $100,000 a year in disposal fees. Q: What
