A greener mattress meant getting back to bed basics

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A greener mattress meant getting back to bed basics

_http://www.nationalpost.com/life/story.html?id=2072160_

(http://www.nationalpost.com/life/story.html?id=2072160)

Published: Tuesday, October 06, 2009

 

How Jean Corriveau transformed his business from chemical-based to 100%

organic

 

 

Like most of us, it took Jean Corriveau a while to get things right.

 

 

In 1995, the owner of Sleeptek, an Ottawa manufacturer of conventional

mattresses, bowed to customer insistence to produce mattresses for people with

chemical sensitivities.

 

 

The veteran mattress guy (he had been making them for a decade) travelled

to Texas to check out an organic cotton producer, bought a couple of bales

of the white, fluffy stuff and set about building a new, old-fashioned

product.

 

 

" It wasn't easy because it was like producing mattresses 60 years ago with

the tufting and everything, " says Corriveau. " We made three or four

mattresses. They looked like hell, they felt like hell. "

 

 

Fast forward eight years to 2003, and Corriveau had converted his entire

operation to the manufacture of high-end organic mattresses, pillows,

comforters and they were anything but hellish. In fact, their comfort is

heavenly.

 

 

Since then, Corriveau has rebranded his company and now sells his products

through his Ottawa showroom under the Obasan label (obasan.ca). He also

sells to other Canadian and American retailers under the Green Sleep label

and manufactures for some private labels. Corriveau takes his conversion to

organic so seriously that if any of his 15 staff members duck outside for a

smoke, the employee has to wash his or her hands with organic soap before

heading back to work.

 

 

Although Corriveau says he's not a granola guy, he does worry about the

potential hazards of sleeping on a conventional mattress. Glues and

petroleum-based polyurethane foams are among the nasty ingredients, he says.

" You

spend six, seven, eight hours on top of a lot of off-gassing and petroleum

odours. People will be careful about what they put on their plates, so why

shouldn't they be with what they sleep on? "

 

 

A report in the Washington Post last year said mattress foam breaks down

with regular use, releasing small quantities of antimony and boric acid

(which kills cockroaches) into the air. The story cites a 2006 Consumer Product

Safety Commission report that the amounts released are non-hazardous for

people over five years old, but adds that the cumulative effect of nightly

exposure to the toxic substances is unknown.

 

 

Formaldehyde, declared toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection

Act, can be present in box spring glue. Conventional mattresses for children

may also contain phthalates, suspect in abdominal obesity and other health

problems, in the vinyl ticking that covers the mattresses.

 

 

And while toxic brominated flame retardants are no longer used in

mattresses manufactured in the United States, the source of most mattresses,

some

say that their replacements are almost as bad.

 

 

Don't lose sleep over any of it, says Arlene Blum. She's a biophysical

chemist and director of the environmental advocacy group the Green Science

Policy Institute in Berkeley, California.

 

 

Compared to fire retardant-laden furniture and baby products that meet

California's widely used flammability standard, she says mattresses aren't a

real hazard. Mattresses, Blum explains, use a polymer-based barrier

technology to prevent flames from reaching the interior.

 

 

" According to the foam industry, which I believe, no toxic chemicals are

used [in the polymer fabric], " she says. Blum does add that, for folks with

chemical sensitivity, organic mattresses are probably a wise choice.

 

 

Whether or not you side with Blum's comfort level about conventional

mattresses, there's no doubt that Obasan's are anything but conventional.

 

 

Aside from the organically grown cotton and the sustainably harvested

rubber used in the mattress core, the wool fill comes from a family-run organic

sheep farm in the Netherlands. (Yes, transportation costs are high). The

wood in the box springs comes from Quebec spruce, again sustainably

harvested, and no synthetic glues, dyes or finishes are used. None of which

comes

cheaply.

 

 

A queen-size Obasan mattress and foundation combination runs $2,000 to

$5,000 compared to the roughly $800 and up you'll pay at a chain store.

Pillows are $80 to $120, while comforters range from $250 to $400.

 

 

" We are a niche product, " Corriveau agrees. " We appeal to people who do

their homework. "

 

 

And while they're pricey, Obasan mattresses are guaranteed for 20 years,

the first 10 under a full warranty and the balance pro-rated.

 

 

Obasan's organic features are only part of their appeal. " We're not just

selling to just chemically injured people anymore, " Corriveau says.

 

 

Along with the durability and comfort of high-end products, his mattresses

and other bedding products can boast of using fair trade materials.

 

 

" I travel to the farms to make sure that there are no child labourers and

that people are treated properly. It's never perfect, but we do everything

we can. "

mcs

 

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