With growing consumer demand for more environmentally-friendly products, the latest survey by the National Bed Federation (NBF) reveals that more than three quarters of people in Greater London would be prepared to pay more for ‘greener’ mattresses, close to the nationwide figure of 73%.

The consumer research* undertaken by the NBF in July 2023 shows that sustainability issues are becoming an increasingly important factor in mattress purchasing decisions with 76% of those in Greater London who bought a mattress in the last year saying that they would be prepared to pay more if they knew it had been designed and constructed to avoid ending up in landfill at the end of its life.

“When consumers are made aware that, across the UK, around 75% or 5.25m of old mattresses currently end up in landfill sites every year, they start to appreciate the scale of the problem,” explains Simon Williams, the NBF’s head of marketing and membership. “With many innovative British mattress manufacturers now developing products that have been designed so they can be completely deconstructed and fully recycled at their end of life, there are now more sustainable options available. It is encouraging to see such high levels of consumers prepared to pay more for an eco-designed mattress.”

Of those in Greater London who said they were prepared to pay more, 16% said they would pay up to an extra 5%; 37% said they would be prepared to pay between 6-10% more and 20% said they would pay an additional 11-15%.

The ‘mean’ extra that people in the region would be prepared to pay was just over 13% more.

With the research also showing that across the UK almost a fifth (20.3%) of people took their old mattress to the local tip to dispose of it and less than 7% paid for it to be collected by a mattress recycler, it is more important than ever that the Government heeds the NBF ‘s recent call to support its plans for a nationwide programme to fund a service enabling everyone to recycle their used mattresses, wherever they live. Just over three quarters (76%) of respondents said that if they knew their old mattress was being properly recycled and not sent to landfill, this would influence their route to disposal.