The ACCC proposes to grant conditional authorisation to enable the Australian Bedding Stewardship Council (ABSC), its members, and participants of the ‘Recycle My Mattress’ Scheme, to establish and operate the Scheme for the recycling of end-of-life (EOL) mattresses for 5 years.
Under the Scheme, the ABSC will impose a levy (initially set at $10 per mattress) which will be paid by participating mattress manufacturers and importers, and passed onto wholesalers and retailers and ultimately to consumers as a visible fee on the sale of a new mattress.
The ACCC considers the Scheme is likely to result in the following public benefits: environmental, health and safety benefits; pricing of mattresses to better reflect the costs of mattress disposal; and more employment opportunities for socially disadvantaged persons.
The ACCC considers that the public detriments that are likely to result from the Scheme are limited, because the levy is unlikely to impact competition in the supply chain and is a small component of the overall retail price of mattresses, and participation in the Scheme is voluntary.
However, the realisation of public benefits is impacted by the level of industry participation and the effective administration of the Scheme by the ABSC, including the adoption of robust monitoring and reporting procedures. The ABSC has indicated that it intends to have public reporting and to review the Scheme, but has not provided firm commitment or clarity about this.
As the Scheme is currently in draft form, there is some uncertainty about how much funding will be raised by the levy and how it will be used on a practical level. The ACCC considers it is important to have a sufficient degree of transparency regarding expenditure and Scheme administration more broadly (as those matters impact on the public benefits).The ACCC therefore proposes to grant authorisation with conditions relating to the independent monitoring and reporting of the Scheme’s operation against its objectives and targets.
Further information about the ACCC’s draft determination is available on the ACCC public register at: Australian Bedding Stewardship Council.