ISPA submitted comments on Virginia’s draft New Statewide Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP), which mentions mattresses. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is updating the SWMP for the first time in 46 years. ISPA’s comments focus on the SWMP’s section on product stewardship and extended producer responsibility (EPR).  

Specifically, the draft SWMP recommends “expanding EPR in Virginia to include a broader range of materials, such as packaging, electronics, mattresses, pharmaceuticals, and hazardous materials,” through an overarching policy framework for EPR, including multiple products rather than enacting product-specific EPR legislation. ISPA is generally supportive of the SWMP’s recommendation to expand EPR in the Commonwealth to include a program for mattresses, but does not support the framework approach to EPR discussed in the SWMP.  

ISPA supports a mattress-specific EPR law as all products and the way they are collected and managed at end-of-life are different. A one-size fits all approach to EPR does not work. ISPA highlighted our collaboration with Senator Williams Graves and Delegate Laufer to introduce mattress recycling legislation during the 2025 Virginia legislative session (VA SB 990/VA HB 1974). ISPA submitted its comments before HB 86 was introduced; however, our comments mention ISPA’s support for statewide mattress EPR legislation during Virginia’s 2026 Legislative Session. 

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