Galway social enterprise Bounce Back Recycling will feature on RTE1’s primetime show, Nationwide this week.
Bounce Back Recycling was set up by the Galway Traveller Movement in 2017. Since then, they have diverted over 100,000 mattresses from landfills and successfully grown the service to cover 12 counties.
The social enterprise serves local authorities, householders, furniture retailers, hotels, and others.
“It’s great to see a Traveller-led business being profiled on national television,” says BBR manager Keith McDonagh.
“It’s also a huge boost to our efforts to stop thousands of mattresses being dumped by recycling them instead.”
“Basically, we make it easier for individuals, businesses and county councils to dispose of mattresses sustainably, by running a hassle-free collection and recycling service.”
Their efforts will be the highlight of Nationwide this Wednesday, January 10 at 7pm.
The Nationwide crew filmed the BBR team at their Ballybrit Industrial Estate base and out and about collecting mattresses.
The feature will show how BBR take online bookings, and collect mattresses from householders and businesses in their branded vans and lorries.
It also demonstrates how materials from broken-down mattresses are recycled. For example, the metal springs are reused by the local steel industry.
“We had a great day with the Nationwide crew when they came to film last month. The screening offers us a unique opportunity to highlight the importance of diverting mattresses from landfill.”
“The programme will also show how we break down each mattress by hand. Viewers will see for themselves what happens to the mattress after pick-up, and the positive impact that opting to recycle a mattress has on wider society.”
He added that the show came at a great time for them, as they are launching their services in Dublin this month, and taking bookings now.
The Nationwide feature will also showcase the work of BBR’s sister enterprise, Bounce Back Upcycling. Run by Traveller women, it provides a quality service refreshing furniture, including upholstery.
Besides their workshop, BBU runs a shop selling recycled furniture and household and fashion accessories.
McDonagh says that simply dumping mattresses is a huge loss to the local economy. “Around 32,500 mattresses still go to landfill or incineration in County Galway every year.”
“That’s enough to fill Pearse Stadium on Connacht final day, even though landfill space is quickly running out. It costs around €180 to dump mattresses this way – an estimated loss of over €5.8m to the local economy.”
As a social enterprise, Bounce Back Recycling invest all its profits back into growing its recycling business.
They help county councils and businesses achieve EU targets on waste and recycling. Recycling of Municipal Waste must be increased to 55% by 2025.
Also, under Ireland’s Landfill Directive, no more than 10% of Municipal Waste can go to landfill by 2035.
BBR also provide employment opportunities and job training for Travellers, who face high barriers to employment. Unemployment runs at 80% for Irish Travellers – much higher than for any other ethnic minority – and research has revealed that 80% of Irish businesses would not employ a Traveller.
BBR and BBU also want to continue the long Travellers tradition of mending, re-using and re-purposing discarded items.
Administrator at Bounce Back Recycling, Nicola Devers, says public and private sectors need to act now to reduce mattress waste and turn it into a valuable resource instead via recycling.
“Ireland is fast running out of landfill space and bulky items like mattresses take up too much room. A mattress takes around 100 years to decompose, so it makes no sense to send it to landfill.”
“As many people simply have no means of transporting a mattress for disposal, at Bounce Back Recycling, we help make it easier for them.”
