ASK Wellness Society expands Mattress Recycling Program

KAMLOOPS — An employment program intended to provide meaningful employment opportunities to barriered individuals is expanding its service.

ASK Wellness Society (ASK) says, thanks to a $10,000 grant from Interior Savings’ Community Investment Fund, it will expand its Mattress Recycling Program. ASK’s program is designed to reduce barriers to support individuals to remain gainfully employed through access to transportation, meals provided at work and accommodations to ensure the health and wellbeing of its participants.

According to ASK, between 800 and 1,000 mattresses in the Kamloops region are recycled by the program every month by diverting all mattress materials from the local waste stream, apart from the mattress fabric.

“The employment of individuals who would otherwise be outside the workforce and the positive environmental outcomes from the mattress recycling plant operated by ASK are some of the most important efforts of our agency,” ASK CEO Bob Hughes says. “Throughout the recycling process, we require extensive equipment and tools that we have no budget for. The donation by Interior Savings will make the work site safer, increase revenue, improve efficiency and help keep the program operating into the coming years.”

The Mattress Recycling Program runs in partnership with the City of Kamloops but ASK says only 75 per cent of funding is covered by operational revenue. The other 25 per cent of operating and program costs are shouldered by ASK and relies on community funding and donations to support the revenue gap.