Sustainability | Waste

At Tepperman’s, we are focused on continuous improvement in many areas of our business. The need was no more apparent then when it came to understanding how to reduce the waste from our business operations. Through detailed waste reviews and extensive recycling programs at our distribution centres, we strive to increase the amount we divert from the landfill every year. We also review our accounting methods for waste diversion to ensure that our reporting is as accurate as possible. 

Our mantra is – if our distribution centres touches it, we account for it. 

We have set a goal to hit a diversion target of 80% by 2025. We have been trending upward but reached a bit of a plateau in 2021 when our diversion numbers decreased to 71.1%. Looking back, we realized that this was due to a combination of the decommissioning of a heat densifier in one of our locations along with an increase of specific plastics materials that we were not able to find a home for at that time. The good news is that by the Summer of 2022 we replaced the densifier with a cold press densifier and were able to find a new recycling partner for our plastics waste.

From the beginning of 2019 to the end of 2021 we had collected and processed more than 1150 tonnes of cardboard. We have in-house balers at both of our distribution centers, and also work with two organizations in London and Windsor: in London we work with YOU, a non-profit organization helping the youth of London. In order to decrease the emissions that resulted from shipping bales from Windsor to YOU in London, we began work with Recycling Makes Cents in Windsor in late 2021 who now receive bales directly from our Windsor location.

As of Summer 2022, we now have cold press polystyrene densifiers in each of our locations. These machines take packaging material, compress to a 60:1 ratio and turn it into Styrofoam bricks that can then be processed into other materials through our partner Second Wind Recycling. More than 10 tonnes per year are recycled.

Similar to the baling of cardboard, we take our plastics or LDPE (low-density polyethylene) and bale those materials and send them off to be recycled. Previously, we were only able to bale and recycle clear plastic (mattress bags primarily) and other plastics were destined for the landfill. In the Spring of 2022, we began a partnership with EFS Plastics in Listowel who will also take clear plastic, but clear-coloured plastic, combined foam and plastic material as well that previously did not have a home in our recycling plans. We expect that this change in partners will provide us with the opportunity to recycle more than 20 additional tonnes of material each year.

Since 2019, our customers have trusted Tepperman’s to responsibly dispose of their used mattresses and box springs. These mattresses have been sent to recycling centers where they are broken down into their basic components and recycled. In 2022, we shifted our recycling location from Chicago to Woodbridge, Ontario and now we are working with Recyc-Mattress Inc. Not only has this change decreased the emissions required to drive the materials to their destination by two thirds, but Recyc-Mattress will provide us with detailed component by component metrics so we can accurately track the true diversion numbers. In 2021, we diverted more than 100 tonnes of mattresses from the landfill.

Year after year, Tepperman’s partnership continues to strengthen. We donate all of our exchanged or used furniture and appliances to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Not only does this provide an opportunity for these appliances and furniture items to have a second life, but it also provides a revenue stream for Habitat to fund some of their housing projects. In 2021, more than 170 tonnes of appliances and furniture was donated to Habitat.