riposa Insider

Together towards a circular future

Published on Apr 29, 2022
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With Circle Sleep, riposa is the first mattress manufacturer in Switzerland to launch a mattress line with a recyclable core. However, it is no secret that acting in line with the circular economy requires one thing above all: close cooperation between all the players along the value chain. That is why Circle Sleep not only denotes the latest generation of riposa products, but also stands for the industrial project behind it.

Circularity via verticalisation

The circular economy aims to reduce the consumption of primary raw materials, maintain the value of manufactured products for as long as possible and avoid waste as far as possible. The circular economy is therefore an integrated approach that takes into account a product’s entire life cycle, starting with raw materials production and product design, then continuing with production, distribution and the use of products for the longest possible time, before ending with recycling.

«Due to its integrated nature, the circular economy can only be implemented by verticalising the industry. By this, I don’t mean that entire value chains should be brought under the umbrella of individual companies. What I mean is that the individual players involved in these value chains need to exchange ideas much more, work much more closely together and interlink with each other far more,» says Iva Schnellmann, Co-CEO of riposa.

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Long-standing partnerships with companies from the region

Circle Sleep was therefore conceived as an industry project from the very beginning, with riposa working closely with industry partners from the conception and development stages right through to the production of the recyclable mattress line. «We cultivate long-standing partnerships, and we prefer to work with companies with which we are connected by the shortest possible routes. We are convinced that this was one of the most fundamental pillars on which the successful development and implementation of Circle Sleep was built,» says Reta Schnellmann, who runs riposa together with Iva Schnellmann.
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Learning for the future

When developing Circle Sleep, it was important for riposa to create a production cycle that truly makes sense and has substance. 92% of the core of Circle Sleep back support mattresses is fed back into Swiss industry: the pocket springs are processed into steel, the foam is processed into composite foam and the sheep’s wool is processed into insulation material. As Iva Schnellmann and Reta Schnellmann are certain that thinking and acting in a circular way will become state of the art for production companies, the experience the company is now gaining with its first recyclable products will also be transferable to other products in the future.

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