Valumat vzw collectively carries out the obligations related to extended producers responsibility on behalf of all producers and importers. This means that a participant in the Valumat system no longer has to worry about their legal obligations. In exchange they pay a contribution in proportion to the number of mattresses they have brought onto the market in Belgium.
Contrary to most other waste streams for wich there is a take-back obligation, the final sellers of mattresses are not obliged to accept old mattresses from their customers. This is also the case for the brokers and manufacturers or importers who sell mattresses to a final seller.
This is because the sectors involved and Valumat have agreed this with the regional authorities and stipulated it in the regulations.
The final seller can voluntarily receive discarded mattresses for free when the consumer buys a new mattress. For this service, he receives a fee from Valumat. Valumat will publish the list of final sellers who voluntarily collect old mattresses on its website and provide these final sellers with the necessary communication material. The retailer has a legal obligation to inform his customers about this.
Final sellers of mattresses who do not collect old mattresses from their customers have also a legal obligation to inform them where they can turn to for assistance with their old mattresses. Valumat will also design appropriate communication material for them.
Consumers can dispose of their discarded mattresses at the recycling centres for free. Valumat has made agreements with the intermunicipal associations and municipalities that operate the recycling centres for the financing of the storage, transport and processing of old mattresses.
They can also go free to final sellers who voluntarily collect old mattresses from customers who buy a new mattress from them.
For the professional market too, Valumat also provides compensation for mattresses collected by a collector homologated by Valumat. Valumat annually determines this fixed amount depending on the market conditions for collection, transport and processing at that time.
Valumat reserves a significant portion of the environmental contribution for investments in ecodesign in order to arrive at an easily dismantlable and recyclable mattress, without compromising on sleeping comfort.