Official launch of groundbreaking Illawarra job program

Mission Australia’s Soft Landing Mattress Recycling – a groundbreaking approach to tackling a significant environmental problem while also providing training and employment opportunities to long-term unemployed people in the Illawarra – was officially launched yesterday at its headquarters in Bellambi.

Funded by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations’ Jobs Fund, Soft Landing takes discarded mattresses destined for landfill and recycles them – an operation that currently provides jobs for eight trainees and four casual staff.

Special guest at the event was Sharon Bird, Federal MP for Cunningham.

Soft Landing’s manager, Lyn Watkins, said the initiative was a first for the area and it had big plans for the future.

“All the beds delivered to us get pulled down and broken into four key areas. The springs go to scrap metal recyclers, the foam is used as carpet underlay, the pulp fibre is used by a sporting goods manufacturer for punching bags and the timber frames are used for timber mulch or donated to a local men’s shed program where they are turned into kids toys,” Ms Watkins said.

“Over the next three years our plan is for Soft Landing to divert more than 78,000 mattresses from landfill – that’s 2,739 semi trailer loads!

“But Soft Landing is not just about sustainability. Over the same period we aim to create 20 ‘green’ jobs for the Illawarra. This includes 14 traineeships for Aboriginal and long-term unemployed job seekers.”

“Australia – and our own region – faces unprecedented environmental challenges that demand our urgent action. Australia sends 1.25 million mattresses to landfill each year. Each individual mattress consists of 12.5kgs of steel, 2kgs of wood and 1.5kgs of foam.

“We also have some serious issues in the Illawarra with unemployment. Despite the overall health of Australia’s economy, Illawarra’s unemployment rate is 6.6 per cent while the unemployment rate for 15-19 year olds looking for full-time work is 22 per cent.

“So Soft Landing is a unique approach to both these issues. We not only want to make a difference locally to our environment, we also want to help transform the lives of people who need our help,” said Ms Watkins.

You can find out more about the project at www.softlanding.com.au or for the warehouse location visit this link

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A new video has been released about the program, which can be viewed below or at our Youtube channel

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