Bensons for Beds is celebrating a breakthrough in its sustainability practices, with recycling rates and sales of its eco-friendly Silentnight Choices range at an all-time high.
According to TFR Group, the UK sees around 7.5 million mattresses thrown away each year, which equates to 247,500 tonnes. Around 12,000 mattresses are illegally dumped each year, with mattresses accounting for 13% of all fly-tipping. Waste levels in the UK are generally at an all-time high, with 45.4 million tonnes of waste dumped each year, and England’s landfill sites are set to reach maximum capacity by 2022.
Bensons saw an opportunity to offer a quick and easy recycling solution to customers through the introduction of its recycling scheme in August last year. Under the scheme, customers can recycle their old mattresses and beds when they have their new item delivered. With the bed bases being recycled for fuel and biomass, the mattresses undergo an extensive process at the recycling bank, where they are deconstructed and segregated into different materials to be reused in various industries.
Bensons has seen around 40,000 beds taken for recycling in the past 10 months – saving around 1800 tonnes of mattresses from landfill.
In addition, sales of Bensons’ Silentnight Choices range – featuring mattresses made from recycled plastic bottles – has seen an uplift of +96% in the past year. Since the Silentnight Choices range launched in 2018, Bensons has saved over 48.7 million plastic bottles from entering the oceans and landfill.
“Customers are actively seeking out more sustainable options from retailers,” comments Pam Johnson, head of buying at Bensons for Beds. “We’ve seen a huge increase in the number of eco-conscious customers. As a business, we are committed to being even more environmentally-friendly and are constantly looking at how we can be kinder to the environment with every new product we introduce.”
Bensons is set to extend its range of environmentally-friendly products in the coming months.
“We not only look at the product components themselves in terms of sustainability, recycling, etc, but also how they are produced – for example, by incorporating chemical treatment-free fabrics, which stop harmful chemicals going into our waterways," Pam continues. "There are also innovative new filings which, in their production, reduce CO2 emissions, water and land use. We’re excited to be incorporating these into our new ranges in autumn this year.
“Overall, our sustainability practices are performing incredibly well so far, helping us contribute to reducing unnecessary waste in the UK. Sales of our Silentnight Choices range also show how there’s no quality compromise when customers choose sustainable products – people can do their bit for the environment, whilst enjoying an incredibly comfortable night’s sleep.
“We are committed to making a real change, and will continue investigating new sustainable products and practices in the coming years, to help our business evolve and adapt to an increasingly environmentally conscious nation.”