In the early stages of the COVID crisis, many ISPA members nimbly adapted their manufacturing to supply the products that states, the healthcare system, and others needed to fight COVID.

ISPA used its website and other communications channels to share information and tools that members could use to match their capabilities to current needs, and to help them navigate the evolving federal, state and local restrictions that could affect their ability to make and deliver needed supplies

Environmental advocates and labor unions representing firefighters pressed for legislation to restrict the materials used to improve the fire performance of various consumer products, including mattresses. Working in tandem with other manufacturing groups, ISPA informed policymakers about the precautions mattress manufacturers take to make products that provide consumers a safe and restful night’s sleep and defended the industry’s access to the materials that manufacturers use to meet the Part 1632 and 1633 federal flammability standards.

A number of states are increasingly considering legislation to address growing concerns with the use of per- and polyfluoralkyl substances and related chemicals (often called PFAS), so-called “forever chemicals” that are used to make textiles water repellant and stain resistant. We expect 2021 to be another busy year for Advocacy in dealing with efforts to further limit the use of flame retardants and PFAS.

Oregon and New York sought to make the mattress industry responsible for recycling mattresses discarded by their residents. The New York proposal would have required mattress manufacturers to fund the recycling program directly, and the Oregon bill contained a number of provisions that differed from the legislation enacted elsewhere that created the successful consumer-funded programs that the industry is operating in California, Connecticut, and Rhode Island through the Mattress Recycling Council. Although ISPA negotiated actively on both bills in an effort to make them consistent with existing legislation, neither state enacted mattress recycling legislation in 2020. We expect these and other states will be active in pressing industry recycling bills again in 2021.