Can a Mattress be Sustainable?

The simple answer is yes… the long answer is most of the mattresses you are encountering today are not sustainable. Here we’ll take a look at what it means when a mattress company is sustainable and the true cost of mattress waste. 

What is Sustainability? 

When we are looking at sustainability, we prioritize environmental sustainability which is the ability to maintain an ecological balance of the Earth’s natural environment and conservation of natural resources. The goal of this is to support the well-being of the Earth for current and future generations. 

There are a few key points that are important when looking at environmental sustainability:

• Ecological balance: This refers to the delicate balance that exists between all living things in an environment. When this balance is disrupted, it can lead to many problems, such as the extinction of species, the spread of disease, and the degradation of natural resources.
• Natural resources: These are the resources that we need to survive, such as water, air, soil, and minerals. They are essential for our physical and economic well-being.
• Conservation: This refers to the act of protecting and preserving natural resources. It can be done through a variety of methods, such as recycling, planting trees, and reducing pollution.

We must be conscious of the effects our actions have on the Earth as this is our home and it is essential for our survival that the Earth remains healthy. Speaking of health, the environment plays a major role in our health. When we pollute the air and water, we are putting ourselves at risk of several health problems. Not to mention the economy is heavily dependent on the environment. Any damage done to the environment is damage to the economy. 

Here at Essentia, we prioritize our sustainability efforts as we know many mattress manufacturers that use low-quality, chemical-laden materials that cause harm to the environment if one of these mattresses ends up in a landfill. 

Essentia Practices Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Mattress Manufacturing

Essentia is proud to be a sustainable company, producing a sustainable mattress made of only the highest quality organic components including GOLS certified organic latex, GOTS-certified organic cotton, and organic essential oils.

Jack Dell’Accio, Essentia CEO & Founder, shares his view on why having a sustainable business was of utmost importance for more than just the way we manufacture our mattresses:

“Changing the world is pretty big, but I think we can impact lives for the better, Hopefully, the awareness that we are bringing can lead to better sleep choices for everyone. We invest one-third of our lives sleeping, it's not a choice, it's critical for us to exist, and those who thoughtfully sleep well, thrive. The approach we’ve taken for better sleep outcomes is unmatched and I believe is a game-changer, the impacts on human behavior, human happiness, and human sustainability are immense, and what we promote for human wellness carries a natural extension of environmental sustainability.” 

All of our choices come with a price, here at Essentia the choices we make in ingredients allow us to create mattresses that will truly stand the test of time and perform for you for over 20 years. The longevity of an Essentia mattress was put to the test with a 250 pound hexagonal-shaped roller passing over the mattress 200,000 times. This simulates 10 years of regular use. 

The results show that the Essentia mattress experiences a loss of less than a quarter inch of its original height over 10 years. This is remarkable, especially in today’s mattress industry that prioritizes subpar components and manufacturing in china to push the claim that you must purchase a new mattress every 5 to 8 years. We are here to tell you that is false if you invest in your sleep. 

Main Benefits of Essentia’s Sustainable Mattresses

• SOURCING
  Hevea Milk is the “sap” of the Rubber tree which is the nuts and bolts of our mattress. It’s used to make our GOLS-certified organic latex foams. Our hevea milk is sourced from GOLS-certified organic farms in Indonesia and collected from rubber plantations with fair and ethical working conditions, pay, and no child labor.
  
  
• REDUCE CARBON FOOTPRINT
  We roll pack our mattresses for not only your convince, but it’s a huge win for the environment as well. Roll packing allows us to use 75% less space in a truck and 75% less packaging. Using less is always better but using boxes made from 100% recycled paper is just extra gravy. *(99% post-consumer, 1% post-industrial. 
  
  
• BIODEGRADABLE
  When you’ve decided it’s time to upgrade your Essentia mattress, you won’t be worried about your old Essentia living in a landfill. Your Essentia mattress will biodegrade in just 3 years when fully exposed to the elements; wind, rain, and sun. Another healthy option for disposal is to find a mattress recycler in your area.
  
  
• ZERO-WASTE FACILITY
  Waste not, want not as they say. In our factory, we shred all latex and memory foam offcuts and excess for other products such as pillows making us a zero-waste facility. 
  
  
• A FRIEND TO THE ANIMALS
  Sleep soundly knowing every mattress and pillow we produce is Vegan and 100% Cruelty-Free following our Beyond Organic standards. We also never test on animals… although we know they’d love a nap on Essentia. 

The Environmental Impact of Mattress Waste

Imagine throwing away 800 full-grown adult elephants every single day. That’s a lot of elephants. It would be quite the cacophony of noise and eruptions. Though it’s significantly quieter, 800 adult elephants are the equivalent of throwing away 50,000 mattresses every single day. And while mattresses typically don’t make noise, they do take up a lot of landfill space and are unsuitable for the environment. 

The problem is that companies fill mattresses with carbon-based chemicals that eventually break down and create greenhouse gases like methane. 

Yes, this is the same methane gas that destroys the ozone layers and pollutes the air we breathe. Even worse, traditional mattress materials don’t decompose well, occupying space and leaching chemicals into the soil. 

That’s why it’s so important to address the environmental impact of mattress waste. We need to consider the consequences of our choices. Yes, even when it comes to what we sleep on and with, our mattress and bedding choices can have incredible ramifications.

The vast majority of traditional mattresses may look safe and comfortable but contain toxic chemicals. Furthermore, they can carry a large carbon footprint and are not exactly eco-friendly. 

That’s true even if they use confusing consumer labels that mark a mattress as “green.” This practice is known as “green-washing.”

Most mattresses use polyurethane or petroleum for their foam. Manufacturers turn these materials into non-biodegradable synthetic foam. Over time, the polyurethane secretes volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. These emissions can contaminate your bedroom and your body.

In addition to the harmful chemicals in mattresses, disposal is a significant issue. It’s hard to truly “dispose’ of a mattress because it’s not biodegradable. The fact is that every contaminated mattress eventually sits in landfill disposal, doing nothing but releasing chemicals into our atmosphere.

On the other hand, eco-friendly mattresses like Essentia use organic and sustainable materials that leave a much smaller carbon footprint while providing environmental (and human) benefits. 

At Essentia, we use ethically harvested, all-natural organic hevea milk sap for our latex. Furthermore, Essentia’s factory is GOLS and GOTS certified organic to ensure that there’s no chance of chemical contamination.