Ex-Hartford DPW Chief Honored For Mattress Recycling

Mattress Recycling Council

HARTFORD, CT — The Mattress Recycling Council has awarded retired Hartford Public Works Director Marilynn Cruz-Aponte with its award for environmental stewardship.

Cruz-Aponte was honored recently in recognition of her significant contributions to protecting Connecticut’s environment, according to the MRC.

Cruz-Aponte was crucial to the successful 2013 enactment of Connecticut’s mattress recycling law – a first of its kind in the nation, which has saved Connecticut municipalities and taxpayers millions of dollars and recycled over 1.5 million mattresses that would have otherwise added to the waste stream within the state.

“I am honored to receive this award from the Mattress Recycling Council,” Cruz-Aponte said. “Recycling programs of various kinds have been at the center of my career in local government service and my early involvement in the mattress program is one of the biggest efforts I have helped push forward. Once implemented, the success of the program was seen immediately.”

Since its inception, the Mattress Recycling Council’s Connecticut program has grown and has featured:

• 1.5 million mattresses and box springs recycled.

• More than 24,000 tons of steel, foam, fibers and wood salvaged.

• 154 drop-off locations in Connecticut cities and towns established.

“The success of our program would not have been possible if not for the leadership of people like Marilynn, who saw early the need and the potential for a law that would address the growing environmental and financial cost of the improper disposal of used mattresses and box springs,” said Dan McGowan, MRC’s Northeast Senior Program Coordinator. “We are pleased to have this chance to reward her hard work.”

The Mattress Recycling Council (MRC) is a nonprofit organization that operates recycling programs in states with mattress recycling laws: California, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Oregon.

The MRC was founded by the bedding industry and recycles nearly 2 million mattresses each year.

For more information visit MattressRecyclingCouncil.org. To learn how to recycle your mattress visit ByeByeMattress.com.