How might a mattress manufacturer regenerate the river systems it impacts?

Using a method from The Non-human Persona Guide, I assessed a hypothetical mattress and its business model to identify an impacted non-human—the River Systems.

After creating a persona for the River Systems, I used the Guide’s tools to brainstorm ways to reduce the product’s lifecycle use and pollution of the river systems.

The output was 7 regenerative innovations and 4 lifecycle innovations, including a River Bed Buddy App, connecting people with the local rivers and indigenous culture through events and stories.

The production of many mattresses impacts river systems in several ways:

• Cotton farming uses massive amounts of water
• Material processing also uses water and chemicals which can leak back into local water sysetms
• Old mattresses discarded to landfill or dumped in nature can leak chemicals into local soil and rivers

Since the material choice, processing, and user behaviour are problem areas, they are also areas for life-centred innovation.

A systems thinking approach identified the River Systems as a primary non-human impacted material production and use.

• Reducing water use through using a mix of recycled materials and less cotton
• Investing in developing circular opportunities, such as:
  • Drip irrigation to reduce water waste
  • The use of grey water to reduce water use
  • Mushroom-based microfiltration to remove harmful waste
• Reducing landfill:
  • Unwanted mattresses can also collected by us when you’re finished with them so we can keep them circular
  • Packaging is recycled cardboard made without chemicals or adhesive

• Including the River Systems as a Board Member—Using dynamically updated data as a digital twin to represent the River Systems’ health and needs during decision-making
• Synchronising production with nature’s cycles—Exploring various business models and income streams so that we can reduce production according to stressful times for rivers, such as drought
• Working with the traditional custodians—Re-including Aboriginal Australians in the conversation about river care and conservation

Helping customer make their mattresses last longer:

Customers can access the River Bed Buddy App from the QR code on the mattress for:

• Quick care instructions
• Notification reminders to flip and rotate
• Book a collection for donation or recycling
• Auto-post a resell advert on Facebook and Craigslist

Reconnecting people with people, and people with nature:

Customers can also use the River Bed Buddy App to:

• Find local river events for the family
• Join in on river clean-up days
• Attend fun and informative sessions with First Nation Australian Guides

Explore the complete non-human persona method and tools used for this project by accessing The Non-human Persona Guide’s Journey Backpack.