In June 2016, the Metro Vancouver solid waste advisory board (PDF) agreed to write a letter to the British Columbia Minister of Environment "requesting an amendment to the B.C. Recycling Regulation to require the implementation of an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program for mattresses and other bulky furniture by 2017." The board's zero waste committee memo (PDF) highlighted the urgent need for a mattress and furniture EPR program "as changes to commodity markets have reduced the economic viability of local recycling businesses and may result in the requirement to landfill potentially recyclable mattresses. Lack of an EPR program increases the potential for illegal dumping of these products and transfers costs to municipalities... Metro Vancouver estimates the cost to regional taxpayers of illegal dumping clean-up and bulky items pick-up programs for mattresses and bulky furniture to be as high as $5,000,000 per year." The memo notes that one of the three private mattress recycling companies in the region, Recyc-Mattress, stopped accepting mattresses in May 2016.

Read the July 18, 2016 Metro Vancouver letter (PDF) which includes a similar request to and response from the Minister in 2012. Phase 2 of the Canada-wide Action Plan for EPR has a 2017 implementation goal for furniture, carpet, textiles, and construction and demolition materials. (h/t PSI newsletter).