Felling ‘mattress mountain’ lands Dudley Council prize nomination
A council has been shortlisted for a national award for toppling the ‘mattress mountain’ in the borough.
Dudley Council is up for Best Partnership of the Year in the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) Awards.
The annual event, now in its 12th year, recognises the achievements and hard work of council waste officers and their colleagues and partners during the past 12 months.
The nomination is for the council’s work with emerging Shrewsbury-based recycling company Textek.
The firm use revolutionary new methods to make it easier to recycle mattresses and other large bulky items, stopping them from going into landfill.
Textek has developed the first bespoke mattress shredding line, which enables the successful separation of the flock from the steel and ensures 100 per cent of the mattress can be recycled.
Textek collected 1,696 items from homes in Dudley between January and June this year, equating to just under 55 tonnes.
Dudley’s landfill rate for 2019/20 was 1.7 per cent – the lowest it has ever been. This compares with 4.5 per cent in 2018/19.
Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for public realm, said: “I am delighted with this award nomination.”
Judged by a panel of experts from across the waste management industry and local authorities, the awards will be handed out at the virtual LARAC conference on October 14 and 15.
