Stella’s Voice and Instant Neighbour are about to start a mattress cleaning project with Aberdeenshire Council. By learning from Cunninghame who have run a similar project for a few years, we will be able to start with maximum efficiency and minimum disruption. By being able to effectively clean and reuse mattresses there will be be less waste and landfill – a saving to local authority budgets, more mattresses available for people – we never have mattresses to meet demand for them and ultimately, less situations where children, for example are sleeping on the floor.

Those that went on the visit expressed ideas such as how this could be expanded to include sofas and other soft furnishings, thereby increasing what can be diverted from landfill and put into good use. The trip also was a good time for Instant Neighbour and Stella’s Voice to talk through, learn from and discuss other challenges currently going on in the sector. We also got a chance to sit down with the leadership team at Cunninghame and discuss wider sector issues relating to reuse – an opportunity that is rare and was only made possible because of the grant from the Learning Exchange which enabled this trip in the first place.

Learning Outcomes

• Correct use of the cleaning machine – There are several techniques to using the cleaning machine and the chemicals that are used along with the cleaning machine. There are several different cleaning chemicals – the correct use of the different chemicals for different mattresses and the amount of each chemical required.
• Correct handling and storage of the mattresses – ensuring the mattress don’t get damp, are dried correctly, etc. Cunninghame have a system worked out that maximises space but ensures quality and drying are not compromised.
• Labelling and communication to the general public so that they can know using a cleaned mattress is safe and giving them the confidence to do so. Cunninghame Furniture have developed an effective system/process and the visit will allow us to see, understand, partake in all of this and develop our procedures to run a mattress cleaning project. 

"Being on site and seeing first hand how the project can work was invaluable. Theory is one thing, but the practical is another. Our team have come away with a real world working knowledge of how to clean mattresses. Learning the 'do's' but also the 'do not's' from the experience of a project that has now been running for a few years. Being able to observe, document, photograph and video all of this will enable us to setup a really good working model that will allow many mattresses to be diverted from landfill and ensure many more people have a bed to sleep in. We now have a launch date of June 2025 to get the project up and running."