An Act To Establish a Mattress Stewardship Program
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 0349
Committee: Environment and Natural Resources
Sponsors: SAVIELLO, CARSON
Amends: 38 MRSA §2145

Legislative Document
No. 349
S.P. 115
In Senate, February 2, 2017
An Act To Establish a Mattress Stewardship Program
Reference to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources suggested and ordered 
printed.
HEATHER J.R. PRIEST
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator SAVIELLO of Franklin.
Cosponsored by Senator: CARSON of Cumberland.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  38 MRSA §2145 is enacted to read: 
§2145.  Stewardship program for mattresses 
1.  Definitions.  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings. 
A.  "Brand" has the same meaning as in section 1771, subsection 1.  "Brand" includes 
both a registered and an unregistered trademark. 
B.  "Consumer" means a purchaser, owner or lessee of a mattress. 
C.  "Discarded mattress" means a mattress that a person discards, abandons or sends 
for recycling. 
D.  "Foundation" means any ticking-covered structure used to support a mattress and 
composed of one or more of the following: a constructed frame, foam or a box spring.  
"Foundation" does not include a bed frame or base made of wood, metal or other 
material that rests upon the floor and serves as a brace for a mattress. 
E.  "Mattress" means any resilient material or combination of materials that is 
enclosed by ticking, used alone or in combination with other products, and intended 
or promoted for sleeping upon.  "Mattress" includes any foundation, renovated 
foundation or renovated mattress.  "Mattress" does not include: 
(1)  An unattached mattress pad or an unattached mattress topper, including any 
item with resilient filling, with or without ticking, intended for use with or on top 
of a mattress; 
(2)  A sleeping bag or pillow; 
(3)  A car bed; 
(4)  Juvenile products, including a carriage, basket, dressing table, stroller, 
playpen, infant carrier, lounge pad, crib bumper or any pad for such products; 
(5)  A product that contains liquid-filled or gas-filled ticking, including a 
waterbed or air mattress that does not contain upholstery material; or 
(6)  Any upholstered furniture not otherwise containing a detachable mattress, 
including, but not limited to, a fold-out sofa bed or a futon. 
F.  "Mattress core" means the principal support system present in a mattress, 
including, but not limited to, springs, foam, an air bladder, a water bladder or resilient 
filling. 
G.  "Mattress stewardship assessment" or "assessment" means the amount added to 
the purchase price of mattresses sold in the State necessary to cover the cost of 
collecting, transporting and processing discarded mattresses statewide under a 
mattress stewardship program established in accordance with this section. 
H.  "Mattress stewardship organization" or "organization" means a nonprofit 
organization created by one or more producers to design, submit a plan for, 
implement and operate a mattress stewardship program. 
I.  "Mattress stewardship plan" or "plan" means a plan designed by a producer or 
mattress stewardship organization for the establishment of a mattress stewardship 
program. 
J.  "Mattress stewardship program" or "program" means a system implemented for 
the management of discarded mattresses in accordance with an approved mattress 
stewardship plan. 
K.  "Operator" means a producer or mattress stewardship organization that 
implements and operates a mattress stewardship program. 
L.  "Participate" means, with respect to a producer, to, individually or through a 
mattress stewardship organization, establish and operate a mattress stewardship 
program in accordance with this section. 
M.  "Producer" means, with regard to a mattress that is sold, offered for sale or 
distributed for sale in the State, any person that manufactures or renovates the 
mattress under the person's own brand.  "Producer" includes: 
(1)  The owner of the brand under which a mattress is sold, offered for sale or 
distributed for sale in the State; and 
(2)  Any person that imports a mattress into the United States for sale or 
distribution in the State, if the mattress is manufactured or renovated by a person 
that does not have a physical presence in the United States. 
N.  "Recycling" means the transforming or remanufacturing of an unwanted product 
or the unwanted product's components and by-products into usable or marketable 
materials.  "Recycling" includes incineration or energy recovery or energy generation 
by means of combusting unwanted products, components and by-products with or 
without other waste.  "Recycling" does not include landfill disposal. 
O.  "Renovate" means to alter a mattress for the purpose of resale including replacing 
the ticking or filling of a mattress, to add filling to a mattress or to replace mattress 
components with new or recycled materials.  "Renovate" does not include stripping a 
mattress of its ticking or filling without adding new material or sanitizing or 
sterilizing a mattress without otherwise altering the mattress. 
P.  "Retailer" means a person that offers a mattress for sale in the State in a retail sale, 
as defined in Title 36, section 1752, subsection 11, including remote sales conducted 
through sales outlets, catalogs or the Internet or any other similar electronic means. 
Q.  "Sell" or "sale" means any transfer of title for consideration, including remote 
sales conducted through sales outlets, catalogs or the Internet or any other similar 
electronic means. 
R.  "Ticking" means the outermost layer of fabric or material of a mattress.  
"Ticking" does not include any layer of fabric or material quilted together with, or 
otherwise attached to, the outermost layer of fabric or material of a mattress. 
S.  "Upholstery material" means all material, loose or attached, between the ticking 
and the core of a mattress. 
T.  "Wholesaler" means a person that offers a mattress for sale in the State in a sale 
that is not a retail sale, as defined in Title 36, section 1752, subsection 11, with the 
intention that the mattress be resold in a subsequent retail sale. 
2.  Submission of plan.  Except as provided in subsection 9, no later than one year 
after the effective date of this section, each producer, individually or through a mattress 
stewardship organization, shall submit a plan for the establishment of a mattress 
stewardship program to the commissioner for approval.  The plan must include: 
A.  Identification and contact information for all persons that will be responsible for 
the operation of the program and a list of the brands of mattresses to be covered 
under the program.  If the plan is submitted by an organization, it must include a 
description of the organization, tasks to be performed by the organization and 
information on how the organization is organized, including administration and 
management of the organization; 
B.  A description of how the program will provide convenient, free, statewide 
collection opportunities for discarded mattresses and how the convenience and 
adequacy of the collection system will be monitored and maintained; 
C.  The criteria to be used by the program in determining whether an entity may serve 
as a collection location for discarded mattresses under the program. The plan must 
allow any retailer, wholesaler, municipality, solid waste management facility and 
other private or public entity that meets those criteria to voluntarily serve as a 
collection location; 
D.  The names and locations of recyclers, processors, disposal facilities and other 
entities that may be used by the program for the collection, processing, recycling or 
disposal of discarded mattresses; 
E.  Information on how discarded mattresses collected through the program will be 
safely and securely transported, tracked and handled from collection through final 
disposition; 
F.   A description of the method to be used to ensure that, to the extent economically 
and technically feasible, collected discarded mattresses are recycled or otherwise 
responsibly managed.  The program must be designed to give preference to the 
recycling of discarded mattresses over any other disposal method; 
G.  A description of how the amounts of discarded mattresses collected, recycled, 
processed and disposed of will be measured; 
H.  A description of the education and outreach methods and activities that will be 
used to provide notice of and encourage use of or involvement in the program by 
consumers, businesses, local agencies, retailers, wholesalers and solid waste 
transportation services; 
I.  The establishment of performance goals to measure the success of the program and 
a description of how the program will be designed to meet or exceed those goals; and 
J.  An anticipated budget for operation of the program and a description of how the 
program will be financed, including the method of calculating a mattress stewardship 
assessment that meets the requirements of subsection 6. 
3.  Approval of plan.  The commissioner shall review a plan submitted under 
subsection 2 and approve or reject the plan within 90 days of receipt. 
A.  The commissioner shall make a plan submitted under subsection 2 available for 
public review at least 30 days prior to approving or rejecting the plan. 
B.  The commissioner shall approve a plan if the commissioner determines that the 
plan demonstrates the ability of the mattress stewardship program to meet the goals 
specified in subsection 2, paragraph I and meets the other requirements for 
submission of a plan under subsection 2.  The commissioner's approval of a plan must 
include approval of the method by which the program will be financed.  The 
commissioner shall require the producer or organization submitting the plan to 
provide an independent audit indicating the appropriateness of the proposed mattress 
stewardship assessment. 
C.  If a plan is rejected, the commissioner shall provide the reasons for rejecting the 
plan to the producer or organization submitting the plan.  The producer or 
organization submitting the plan may submit an amended plan within 60 days of a 
rejection. 
D.  A producer or organization whose plan is rejected by the commissioner may 
appeal the commissioner's decision in accordance with sections 341-D and 346. 
4.  Implementation of plan.  A producer or mattress stewardship organization that 
submitted a plan approved by the commissioner under subsection 3 shall implement the 
plan no later than 120 days after the date the plan is approved. 
5.  Amendment of plan.  A change to an approved and implemented mattress 
stewardship plan must be submitted to the commissioner for review prior to 
implementation of that change.  If the change is not substantive, such as the addition of or 
a change to collection locations, the addition of a new producer to the program or a 
change in the contact information or officers of the organization, approval is not needed, 
but the operator must inform the commissioner within 14 days of implementing the 
change.  The commissioner shall review substantive plan amendments in accordance with 
subsection 3. 
6.  Stewardship assessment.  An operator shall administer a mattress stewardship 
assessment to be applied to all mattresses covered by the program sold in the State.  The 
amount of the assessment must be approved by the commissioner in accordance with 
subsection 3 and must be sufficient to recover, but may not be designed to exceed, the 
cost of the program.  If the funds generated by the assessment exceed the amount 
necessary to operate the program, excess funds must be used to reduce future assessments 
or improve services under the program. 
A.  A mattress stewardship assessment must be added to the cost of all mattresses 
covered by the program sold to retailers and wholesalers in the State.  A retailer or 
wholesaler shall add the assessment to the purchase price of mattresses sold by that 
retailer or wholesaler.  The assessment must be clearly visible on invoices or 
functionally equivalent billing documents as a separate line item.  An assessment may 
not be imposed at the time a discarded mattress is collected.  The collection of the 
assessment must commence no later than the implementation date established in 
subsection 4. 
B.  A producer participating in a mattress stewardship organization shall remit to the 
organization on a quarterly basis payment of the mattress stewardship assessment for 
all mattresses the producer sells in the State. 
7.  Sales prohibition.  Upon implementation of a mattress stewardship plan under 
subsection 4, a producer may not sell or offer for sale a mattress in the State unless the 
producer, or a mattress stewardship organization that the producer has created or joined, 
participates in a mattress stewardship program established in accordance with this 
section. 
8.  Collection locations.  This subsection applies to collection locations for discarded 
mattresses under a program. 
A.  A retailer, a wholesaler, a municipality, a solid waste management facility and 
any other private or public entity may voluntarily serve as a collection location for 
discarded mattresses under an approved and implemented plan, as long as the 
operator determines that the collection location meets the criteria for collection 
locations established under the plan. 
B.  The operator must fully underwrite the costs of pickup and transportation of 
discarded mattresses from each collection location established under the program and 
may not charge an entity serving as a collection location for the cost of such services. 
C.  An entity serving as a collection location may not refuse collection of a discarded 
mattress based on the brand of the mattress.  An operator may not refuse the pickup 
or transportation of a collected discarded mattress from a collection location based on 
the brand of the mattress. 
D.  An entity serving as a collection location may not impose on consumers any fee 
relating to the collection of discarded mattresses. An entity serving as a collection 
location may not impose any fee on an operator as a condition of agreeing to serve as 
a collection location under the program. 
9.  New producers.  A new producer must notify the commissioner and take other 
action in accordance with this subsection prior to selling or offering to sell a mattress in 
the State.  For the purposes of this subsection, "new producer" means a producer that is 
not participating in an existing program established under this section that seeks to sell or 
offer for sale a mattress in the State on or after the date that an approved mattress 
stewardship plan is first implemented under subsection 4. 
A.  Upon receiving notification under this subsection from a new producer, the 
commissioner shall list the producer as a new producer on the department's publicly 
accessible website. 
B.  No later than 90 days following a new producer's notification under this 
subsection to the commissioner, the producer shall submit a plan to the commissioner 
in accordance with subsection 2 or join an existing organization operating a program 
in the State. 
C.  If a new producer fails to submit a plan or join an existing organization within the 
90-day period under paragraph B, the producer may not sell or offer to sell a mattress 
in the State after the expiration of the 90-day period. 
A new producer that fails to submit a plan or join an existing organization within the time 
limits described in this subsection may not sell or offer for sale a mattress in the State 
until the producer submits a plan that is approved by the commissioner or joins an 
existing organization. 
10.  List of producers and brands.  The department shall post on its publicly 
accessible website a list of the producers participating and brands included in a mattress 
stewardship program. 
11.  Annual report.  By October 15th of the calendar year after the calendar year in 
which an approved mattress stewardship plan is implemented under subsection 4, and 
annually thereafter, the operator of a mattress stewardship program shall submit a report 
to the commissioner regarding the activities carried out by the program during the 
previous calendar year.  The report must include, but is not limited to: 
A.  The total tonnage of discarded mattresses collected by the program, as well as the 
specific tonnages collected from municipalities, retailers and all other entities serving 
as collection locations; the total tonnage of discarded mattresses diverted for 
recycling; the weight of mattress materials recycled, as indicated by the weight of 
each of the commodities sold to secondary markets; and the weight of mattress 
materials sent for disposal or processing at disposal facilities and other entities; 
B.  Based on the mattress stewardship assessment collected pursuant to the mattress 
stewardship program, the total number of mattresses sold in the State by all producers 
participating in the program; 
C.  The location of each collection location established under the program and an 
evaluation of the convenience and adequacy of the collection system implemented by 
the program; 
D.  A description of the manner in which discarded mattresses were collected, 
transported, sorted, consolidated and processed by the program; 
E.  A description of the methods and activities used by the program for education and 
outreach, including examples of any educational materials developed and used by the 
program, and an evaluation of the effectiveness of the education and outreach efforts 
implemented by the program; 
F.  The total cost of implementing the mattress stewardship plan and operating the 
mattress stewardship program during the reporting period, as determined by an 
independent financial audit funded from the mattress stewardship assessment.  The 
report of the total cost must include a breakdown of operation, collection, 
transportation, disposition and communication costs; 
G.  An evaluation of the effectiveness of the methods used to achieve the 
performance goals of the program included in the plan pursuant to subsection 2, 
paragraph I, as well as an update to the performance goals, if necessary, based on the 
experience of the program during the previous calendar year; and 
H.  Any other recommendations for change to the program to improve the 
convenience of the collection system, education or outreach efforts or program 
evaluation methods or to otherwise better facilitate the collection, recycling and 
management of discarded mattresses in the State. 
12.  Administration and enforcement; fees.  The department shall enforce this 
section and may adopt rules as necessary for the purposes of implementing, administering 
and enforcing this section.  Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical 
rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
The department shall charge a reasonable application fee, not to exceed $10,000, to be 
paid by an applicant under subsection 2 for review and approval of a mattress stewardship 
plan.  The department may establish a reasonable annual fee, not to exceed the greater of 
$25,000 and 1% of the total program costs as set forth in the independent financial 
auditing report required under subsection 11, paragraph F, to be paid by an operator, to 
cover the department's actual costs for annual report review, administration and 
enforcement. 
13.  Antitrust exclusions.  A producer or mattress stewardship organization, 
including a producer's or organization's officers, members, employees and agents that 
develop a plan for, implement and operate a mattress stewardship program in accordance 
with this section, is immune from liability for the producer's or organization's conduct 
under state laws relating to antitrust, restraint of trade, unfair trade practices and other 
regulation of trade or commerce only to the extent necessary to develop a plan for, 
implement and operate the program. 
SUMMARY 
This bill provides for the establishment of a new stewardship program in the State for 
discarded mattresses.  Under the bill, a producer of mattresses, or an organization 
comprising one or more producers of mattresses, submits a plan for the establishment of a 
mattress stewardship program to the Commissioner of Environmental Protection for 
approval.  Once approved, a program operates to provide convenient, free statewide 
collection opportunities for discarded mattresses, and discarded mattresses collected 
through the program are recycled or otherwise responsibly managed.  A program is 
funded through the imposition of a mattress stewardship assessment, subject to review 
and approval by the commissioner, which is added to the purchase price of all mattresses 
sold in the State.