Last week, ISPA alerted members to the fact that New York legislators had amended a mattress recycling bill we had previously supported by removing a critical provision that would have funded the mattress recycling program through a small fee collected from consumers each time they bought a new mattress at retail. ISPA supported the consumer fee provision because it is the most efficient, transparent and equitable way to fund a statewide mattress recycling program.

California, Connecticut and Rhode Island all use consumer fees to fund their mattress recycling programs. Those programs have been very successful, recycling over 13 million mattresses and box-springs since they began. ISPA supports reasonable state mattress recycling bills that include a consumer fee funding mechanism but opposes legislation that does not follow this sound approach.

ISPA is concerned that if states were to require mattress producers to fund mattress recycling (instead of consumer fees), it would be difficult – if not impossible – to require foreign mattress producers to pay their share of the recycling costs. Since about 30% of mattresses sold in the United States are imported, U.S. producers would be forced to pay more than their fair share of the recycling costs, which would place them at a competitive disadvantage relative to their foreign competitors. As a result, ISPA withdrew its support for this legislation once the New York bill was amended to remove the consumer fee requirement.

Although this bill passed the New York Senate last Thursday evening, ISPA is happy to report that the New York Assembly failed to pass this bill before it adjourned late Friday. We thank ISPA members who contacted New York legislators to ask that they vote no on this bill.

We understand that leaders of the New York Assembly could call that chamber back into session at some point later this year, at which time it is possible that supporters of this bad legislation could make another attempt to enact it. The exact timing of such action is unclear, since all seats in the New York Assembly are up for election this November, and Assembly members had hoped to be away from the legislature campaigning until then. We will keep you posted in the event that the Assembly reconvenes.