A worker sewing mattress parts at Pleasant Mattress in Fresno. Photo contributed.

A local manufacturer is sleeping easy after winning recognition for its recycling efforts.

Fresno manufacturer, Pleasant Mattress Inc., recently earned national recognition from the Mattress Recycling Council (MRC) for its achievement of a 77% reduce reuse, and recycle rate for most of its waste due to its participation in Sleep Products Sustainability Program (SP2), developed to help mattress manufactures reduce waste while increasing efficiency.

The MRC is a nonprofit organization formed by the mattress industry to operate recycling programs in states that have enacted mattress recycling laws.

Pleasant Mattress is currently sending only 1.25 pounds of waste to a landfill for every mattress produced. According to an MRC case study, the company recued its average energy consumption per unit by approximately 30%, saving more than 76,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year—this is roughly equivalent to the emission of an average passenger vehicle driven 86,000 miles.

These efforts also save more than $100,000 per year in avoided landfill fees and in revenue for recycled materials.

With these improvements in efficiency, PMI became the first manufacturer in the U.S. to earn an SP2 certification from MRC.