British-made from start to finish, Vispring mattresses are handcrafted in our Plymouth factory by skilled artisans. Production is never sub-contracted to any other UK or overseas manufacturer. Vispring mattresses are made to last, and they each come with a 30-year guarantee that covers faulty workmanship and materials. However, you can rest assured that when the time comes, a Vispring mattress is 100 percent recyclable at the end of its life.
As a brand that values the natural environment, we are deeply concerned about the devastation happening across our planet. At Vispring we understand that we must take accountability and play a role in the global effort to tackle climate change. Across the business, we have reviewed the way we work, striving to reduce our impact, from supplier and retailer relationships to the day-today operations of our Plymouth factory.
In 2021 we completed a full environmental audit. We set ambitious targets and established dedicated teams within Vispring to work together to deliver our environmental goals.
The Vispring Sustainability Report outlines what we are doing now and what we’re committing to in the coming decade. We have set out a practical roadmap to significantly reduce our carbon footprint by the end of 2022, with a goal of being carbon neutral at our Plymouth factory by 2025.
Naturally Leading the Way
Unlike other bed manufacturers, Vispring is already free from nasties in its mattress production. Rather than a token ‘green’ product, our entire range of mattresses is
made using natural and biodegradable materials.
Our signature, unrivalled comfort is achieved using the same time-honoured methods employed over a century ago – without glue, foam or fire-retardant chemical treatments. We’re proud to say our pocket springs are completely glue-free.
However, we know that this alone is not enough, which is why we continue to work beyond our product to push further in reaching our environmental goals.
Measuring Emissions
We began actively measuring our scope 1 and 2 emissions in 2019 and have set sensible but challenging targets to reduce them. We embarked on an ambitious project to make big changes at our Plymouth factory that are now well underway.
A solar panelled roof has been installed, enabling us to feed surplus energy back into the grid. The introduction of LED and sensor-controlled lighting throughout the factory has resulted in a 12.45 percent reduction in our energy consumption in 2019/20 and water-saving measures reduced our usage by more than 15 percent over a year.
At Vispring, we successfully reduced our carbon footprint by more than 30 percent in 2021, but we won’t stop there. We aim to be carbon neutral by 2025.
Supporting the British Wool Industry
Sourcing locally is central to our ethos at Vispring. We purchase 78 percent of our materials from UK suppliers with whom we’ve built close relationships. This includes the British farmers that supply our wool.
Wool production uses far less energy than the production of artificial fibres. It is also recyclable, releasing nitrogen rich nutrients when used as compost. Hard to ignite, wool doesn’t melt or emit fumes and keratin in the fibre makes it a natural fire retardant. Wool is one of the key ingredients in every Vispring bed, in fact we use an astonishing 400 tons each year across the entire range.
Members of the Campaign for Wool since its launch in 2010, Vispring has long supported producers of wool. As part of a fair-trade policy, we have vouched to buy a substantial amount of the Shetland Island crofters’ yearly clip.
A little closer to home, our Devon and Somerset wool is sourced not far from our Plymouth factory. In 2021 we launched the Limited-Edition Lana mattress, made using pure fleece wool from a minority breed, the Exmoor Horn. For every Lana sold, Vispring gives back directly to Exmoor Horn farmers with a charitable donation, helping to ensure the continuation of the breed for generations to come. British television presenter and champion of wildlife causes, Kate Humble was so impressed by our efforts to support the British wool industry that she came to see first-hand the work we’re doing.
Vispring is a luxury product and to create our signature cloud-like comfort, we seek out the finest ingredients to fill our mattresses. A percentage of those materials are sourced from overseas. However, we work with trusted suppliers to ensure the highest environmental standards are maintained and benefit the communities we buy from.
‘It’s wonderful to see Vispring, not only utilising British wool across its range of mattresses, but also directly supporting the farmers who work hard, year-round, to produce this wonderful and sustainable fibre.”
– Kate Humble, British Television Presenter
Natural,
Recycleable
According to the latest National Bed Federation End of Life Mattress Report, published in 2019, 181,500 tonnes of mattresses were disposed of by households, businesses and service providers in the UK in 2017. Of these, only 19% were diverted from landfill to mattress recycling businesses. This is just one of the reasons why we meticulously handcraft our mattresses to last a lifetime. A Vispring mattress is not a throwaway product.
We’re encouraged to see other brands following in our footsteps, using all natural materials, avoiding foam, glue and artificial fibres. It’s our use of natural fillings that means all Vispring mattresses are 100 percent recyclable. That said, there is some way to go in terms of bed recycling and we’re working hard to ensure the best solutions for the future.
Our Plymouth factory is implementing a zero to landfill policy. We have an agreement in place with our supplier to collect our baled fabric offcuts for reuse in other products, our waste steel is collected and recycled by a third party and waste wood is turned into compost for local farms, ensuring that nothing goes to landfill.
Serving Communities in Need
All our returned and surplus beds are donated to `In Kind Direct’, a charitable organisation founded by HRH The Prince of Wales, with whom we’ve worked since 2005. The charity distributes donated, usable consumer goods from manufacturers and retailers to British charities working both domestically and abroad. This has prevented any returned Vispring mattresses going to landfill for the last 16 years.
In partnership with Mission Without Borders, In Kind Direct has enabled us to provide 380 container loads of beds and mattresses to communities overseas where these items are desperately needed. So far, over 12,600 mattresses and more than 7,500 beds have been distributed, positively impacting thousands of lives.
Working in Eastern Europe, Mission Without Borders helps families suffering the effects of poverty or oppression. Each year the charity increases its impact by sending much needed items like beds, bedding, clothing, hygiene products and school supplies donated by companies to
beneficiaries across Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Albania.
Aspiring to be Better
Being continuously environmentally conscious and aspiring to be better is always with us at Vispring. We are currently replacing polythene packaging with 100 percent recyclable and environment-friendly bags made of 30 percent recycled content. We continue to monitor our polythene usage and seek improvements to our packaging.
Year to date, Vispring has recycled 22 tonnes of cardboard waste. We have reduced the number of physical brochures we produce each year, focusing instead on digital editions. When print is required, it is always on FSC approved stock and we are working towards paperless offices at both our Plymouth and London premises.
Wooden waste pallets and waste wood that cannot be re-used in our factory are ground for use as animal bedding, or compost. Working farms just miles from Vispring’s factory are just some of the sites benefiting from the environmental compost created by our waste wood. In 2020 we recycled 20 tonnes to compost on the fields of Devon and Cornwall, promoting crop growth and water retention.
“We use Vispring’s waste pallets to create a nutrient rich, pure wood compost, that provides superb organic matter for crop growth and acts like a sponge, soaking up water to create an effective flood defence”
– David Bragg, Higher Artiscombe Farm
Giving Back
We count ourselves very lucky to be situated in Plymouth, on the stunning Southwest coast of England. Our community is important to us which is why we engage in projects that give a little back. Vispring is the largest sponsor of the latest series of Wild Tribe Heroes, a collection of children’s books by Ellie Jackson that focus on the environment.
We’ve helped Ellie’s fantastic books reach more than 100,000 schoolchildren in Devon. The Wild Tribe Heroes books feature gentle and engaging stories about animals that find themselves in trouble when their lives are affected by plastic in the oceans, palm oil deforestation or climate change.
“As a key supporter of Wild Tribe books, Vispring has provided the funds needed to help our stories reach so many schoolchildren and spread an important environmental message that we hope will engage a generation.”
– Ellie Jackson, Author
Protecting Wildlife Habitat
The creation of every Vispring mattress relies on the natural world, which is why we make every effort to respect, protect and work in partnership with it. Therefore, we are proud to support the World Land Trust, whose mission is to protect and sustainably manage the world’s natural ecosystems to conserve their biodiversity, with emphasis on threatened habitats and endangered species.
Through our work with the World Land Trust’s ‘Buy an Acre’ programme, Vispring is funding the protection of 50 acres of threatened habitat each year. Our donations help ensure a future for wildlife in some of the world’s most hard-hit areas of deforestation.
