Choose colours you can wash in hot water
According to this article, it isn’t easy to recycle conventional mattresses. That’s because they have several types of materials fused together – commonly polyurethane foam, wood framing, metal coils and synthetic fabric. Some companies have made a business of mattress recycling, such as this one in the Montreal area. For a mattress to be considered greener (unlike polyurethane, which is made from petroleum), it should be made from a natural material, not be treated with chemicals and it should be durable.
I’ll be honest and say that I’m not sure about the sustainability of foam mattresses made from natural sources, such as soy foam and latex (rubber). Soybeans and rubber trees are renewable resources, so it appears that the source is better than a conventional mattress. As long as the mattress hasn’t been treated with flame retardants, it’s less likely to off-gas irritants as polyurethane does. And memory foam mattresses made with solid foam are much more efficient to ship: some can be rolled up into a surprisingly small package, making the carbon-per-unit from shipping significantly lower than a conventional mattress.
So far, soy foam and latex are looking pretty good, but I’d keep a couple of things in mind. First, a lot of mattress companies use a small amount of soy, mixed in with polyurethane. Second, I’m not sure that they are biodegradable in the way the manufacturers claim. I’ve yet to find a solid study showing how soy foam biodegrades, but if a mattress can live in your bedroom, beneath warm, moist bodies for six or eight hours a night, how is it that they wouldn’t biodegrade as you sleep? My guess is they would take a very long time to biodegrade in landfill, and it’s not clear what they become as they break down. If you like the sounds of a
Want an alternative to natural-sourced foam? Perhaps a mattresses made from a mix or organic cotton and wool, used in combination with metal coils, is right for you. Here’s one one from Grassroots. Ikea also makes its Sultan Heidel mattress with a large portion of natural latex and untreated cotton.
Above the mattress, I’d say go for fabrics made with organically grown fibre, most commonly cotton, although hemp and linen are also good choices (particularly for duvet covers). While conventional fabrics aren’t typically hazardous to us, the pesticides used to grow the crops are often harmful to the agricultural workers, the groundwater and any area watersheds, and they can persist in the soil for a long time.
To keep your mattress clean, look for an organic cotton mattresses cover. Assess the options for durability, because you should wash the cover often in extremely hot water to kill dust mites, then hang it on the clothesline in the sun.
Organic cotton sheets and duvet covers in fine threadcounts are now fairly easy to find; if you prefer a raw look try these or these.
What to adorn that bed with? Well, from an allergy point of view, contrary to what we sometimes show in beautiful magazine spreads, the fewer pillows the better. Pillows and shams just collect dust, and that means doing a lot of washing!
