The Specialty Sleep Association (SSA) is working to put in place industry standards which will help define for manufacturers, retailers, and consumers alike what terms like all natural and organic will be defined as. However I do think that companies like them should be encouraged and supported in the continuance on their path of easing their burden on the environment and is the primary reason we do business with them.

Around 1900 Wilbur and Orville Wright started with a glider and within a couple of years added an engine and today we go to outer space. You pointed out “only 45% is being replaced”. My point is that we are not talking about 5%, 10%, or even 20% but approximately 30 percent, which is a lower number than your 45% but really is significant in the overall scheme of things. The oils used for this percentage is very sustainable and the amount as you point out is significant if it is only 30 percent. Compare that to memory foam mattresses built just a few years ago and just like the Wright brother we are witnessing a great achievement, this one however in sustainability. The on going debate is how to define it. One can easily see and call these advancements in technology a shade of green or even eco friendlier.

Eco friendly is not just defined by the savings in oil which is only one production component in an eComfort mattress; there are quite a few other things as well. I will continue to use eComfort as an example. For instance they incorporate 1 inch of recycled foam inside the mattresses, combine bamboo into the process of making the cover, and are maybe and most importantly manufactured in a 0 emissions environment. If we cannot recognize such accomplishments as battles in the war of sustainability then the only thing we will have accomplished is a term I loathe called green washing and a sale at the expense of a trusting consumer. I think there can and will be a balance as the SSA defines these terms and industry moves forward. I also believe eComfort deserves to be recognized as a leader in the memory foam industry because of their commitment utilizing sustainable materials, and their personal achievement of lowering carbon emissions from not only manufacturing but all facets of transportation from delivery of raw materials to the delivery to the consumer. That’s what makes eComfort Eco Friendly.