Please help us Restart the Recycling!
Fabio Scaldaferri is a young entrepreneur with a vision: to change how we approach garbage. Five years ago, he and three friends had the pioneering idea to save Metro Vancouver mattresses from going in the landfill, and instead recycle the steel, cotton, foam, wood and plastic they are made out of. Since opening in 2009, they have recycled more than 350,000 mattresses, finding new uses for 90% of each one.
The facility is also a family. From the guys on the floor to the forklift operators to the truck drivers to the managers, everyone has an opportunity to grow and move up within the company. But when Mattress Recycling burned down Wednesday night, 45 people were left out of work.
Determined to keep his family together, many of whom have been with the company since it opened, Fabio hopes to find a new location and reopen within a matter of days.
His office could be salvaged, and he is already searching for a new depot, but he did not have contents insurance, so insurance will not cover replacing the equipment that was inside the building that was destroyed.
His needs are few, but if you believe in #ZeroWaste or you personally know Fabio and how committed he is to the environment, helping him replace one of his two electric forkliftswould be an incredible way to show your support.
The forklifts are a key part of unloading the large trailers of mattresses that come in from around the province. Without them, the guys have to manually unload each truck (up to six a day!) carrying 150 mattresses each.
One electric forklift costs $25,000. It would be so heartwarming to hear the “Beep, beep!” echoing through a new warehouse so soon after the tragedy, and know that it was the community that helped get the guys back to work.