March 13, 2026 • 8 mins
Even though everybody has to sleep, it's rare that people consider how sustainability can play a role in their bedroom.
Kate Hall joined Jack Tame for a chat about a few ways you can make your sleeping environment a bit more sustainable – from the mattress to the bedding to the furniture itself.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at Me, and I know it.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Sounds super ex rated, but I promise it's not. We're
joined by our sustainability commentator Kate Hall, who's looking at
sustainability in the bedroom this morning. Killed her Good morning.
You know, my wife and I were doing a bit
of a spring clean over summer, which I know is
slightly delayed, but we were doing that thing where you
move the bed and you get under with the vacuum
cleaner and make sure that every little bit of dust
(00:33):
has been picked up in the bedroom. And she was like, oh, well,
we're going to we're gonna have to replace the mattress
sometime soon because it's like six or seven years old.
And I was like, oh, is that a thing and
it's a good quality mattress and she was like, yeah,
it's definitely a thing. You got to you got to
replace your mattress. But this morning you are taking my
wife to task. You have tips on being more sustainable
in the bedroom.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yes, I do, I do. I know exactly where you
should get your mattress. Next week, Oh okay, we'll start
there with mattresses because there's a lot of different things
we can do in the bedroom to be more sustainable.
Is a really great New Zealand brand and they actually
you know, like you said, when you look at your
mattress and you're low, it's only seven or eight years old,
you know, is that mattress going to go? We're not
(01:15):
just going to throw it in the in the tip?
Are we company actually take the mattress. They partner with
all the heart end z and they take it from
you when they're dropping new one off. You can organize
to that and it means that they can reuse the mattress,
take it apart if they need to, or give it
to a better home.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Oh cool, Okay, so they even if your previous mattress
isn't a company mattress, they do that.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yes, yep, Oh that's good.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
So we just got a new company mattress. It's awesome.
They have a showroom in Auckland and yeah, it's it's
a great system because I mean, a mattress you kind
of you don't know what to do with it. It's
a big, huge, huge thing. And yeah, it gets gets
a new.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Hunt And as the name would imply, are they indeed comfy?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
They are comfy, very comfy. I mean there's different obviously.
I don't know if you're a soft.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Or I don't like a firm mattress.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, but I've got that.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
They've got that for you.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Very good. Should you be rotating your mattress? Is there
a thing?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yes? Absolutely, you know when we talk about looking after
things well with your mattress one hundred percent. We've only
had our new mattress for a couple of months now,
but we've already rotated it.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
So oh okay, very good.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
We're trying to get onto that with this new mattress.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
How often are you going to do it?
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I think we're going to do it every couple of months.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
And so like you flip it, you totally flip it,
You're not just like spinning it.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Right, oh, we spin it because obviously it's got like
a top and a bottom. Yeah, yeah, a top and
a bottom.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And so just when you when you, does that mean
that you and your husband like you just end up
sleeping in their groove? Yes, right, but but it's better
to be sleeping in their groove than to be sleeping
solely in your groove because presumably yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, well, and I mean term is like much heavier.
He always has a bigger groove.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, true, true, yeah, yeah yeah, So it's for him
as much as the thing. Okay, so that's the mattress.
What about the sheets? What should be doing for sheets?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
So sheets aiming for cotton, linen or hemp, I mean,
all of those are quite a different feel, so it
really depends on what your preferences. There's even some bamboo
sheets which are really nice, but just the natural fiber
over synthetics is what you're aiming for. When possible.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
How do you clean them?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
So we wash ours in cold water, I mean anything
thirty degrees A lot of it is good just for
the longevity, and they only need to be washed in
cold water and air drying them on the line. It
is great. I think we're pretty good at that in
New Zealand. Ear drying rather than dryers. I think in
some parts of the world having a dryer is just
like a given.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Yes, I think.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
We're pretty pretty good over here. I'd like to think.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I know, I know some people who think that because
it makes them really crispy and they don't like that
feeling and they don't like it with their towels, especially
but they ear dry them and then they just put
them in the dry for like a couple of minutes, okay,
just to give because then it gives them.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
A yeah, yeah, yeah, which is which is a good
way to kind of do.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I always think too, like when you're if you're drying
it outside and it's proper, properly sunny, you just you
know that it's you know that it's good. You know,
you know that it's try. You know that everything's kind
of right. There's no bacteria left, like, there's.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Nothing UV raised, just so much wonders for Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, exactly. Okay, so so there's are you wash your sheets?
What about the other furniture in your bedroom?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yep? So again second hand, I'm really grateful that our
bed base is made by my father in law, which
is awful cool. You can get some great sickenhand bed bases,
saying with you know, if I look around my bedroom,
my dresser was inherited from Term's grandmother, a second hand
draw from a neighbor who is moving house. So yeah,
(04:59):
all of those types of things you can just get
such good quality. There's some things that I like, I
won't recommend people get. I'm a second hand shop, you know,
like even a bed mattress, right, I'm like, buy that new,
you know, villa, But furniture and things like that, just
it's such a bit of quality and so much more
beautiful in my opinion, from second hand storks.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, so funny you say that, I especially because there's
so much flat pack stuff that didn't exist fifteen or
twenty years ago, right, yeah, at least twenty years ago.
I recently, when we had our baby and I sort
of could see that my space in the closet was
being taken by someone else. I thought, oh, I need
a new chest of drawers. But I went and bought
(05:41):
a secondhand chest of drawers, like.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
A beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Remu secondhand chest of draws. Its probably thirty years old,
but had been sanded down and oiled and kind of
beautifully restored, and honestly, it is the most beautiful, the
single most beautiful piece of furniture in our house. Like
I sit there, and I sit there and look at
my is the drawers, and I'm like, oh my god,
(06:08):
look at the.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Grain on that.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yea, It's gorgeous, you know, and so good, Yeah, just
so good, And like this is so much. We said
for like if you can having having having like solid
wood furniture, but also just like there's honestly the secondhand
they're just as good as new, and they are just such.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
A more kind of notable piece of furniture than you wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
You wouldn't sit there and allounge and go oh look
at that grain exactly. No one's going to comment on it.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, yeah, anyway, Okay, so you've got your natural fibers
for your sheets and pillows and stuff.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
I presume the same thing applies for sleep.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
We yes, yep, if you wear it. I mean a
lot of people don't need sleep bear. That's apparently I
heard a study about how that's actually better to sleep naked. Anyway,
that's yeah, I'll find that one and may report back.
But yeah, natural fibers when you're when you're sleep, as
you know, you're lying there for a long time. Unless
(07:10):
you have a child, you're getting out quite a lot.
But yeah, something that's breathable, like even a like Marino
likes cotton. Yeah, there's so much better and more sustainable option.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Yeah, very good. Hey, thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
All of those tips will be up on the news
Talks'd website. You can find Kate, of course on social
media by searching ethically Kate see your own is Kate
Hall Now sustainability expert Jack.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Every week we.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Turn our mattress around every time we wash the sheet.
It's a really good way to keep the mattress even,
says Craig.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Good on your Craig, that's that's good. Yeah, I suppose,
especially if you've got.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
To pull the mattress out, you know how, like if
you've got a metro and to get the fitted sheet
over the mattress, the best way to do it is
actually often to pull it out from the head board area.
That's what I find anyway, Yeah, that could be a
good little option, but that is very discappoint of you, Craig.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to news talks that'd be from nine Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at Me, and I know it.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Sounds super ex rated, but I promise it's not. We're
joined by our sustainability commentator Kate Hall, who's looking at
sustainability in the bedroom this morning. Killed her Good morning.
You know, my wife and I were doing a bit
of a spring clean over summer, which I know is
slightly delayed, but we were doing that thing where you
move the bed and you get under with the vacuum
cleaner and make sure that every little bit of dust
(00:33):
has been picked up in the bedroom. And she was like, oh, well,
we're going to we're gonna have to replace the mattress
sometime soon because it's like six or seven years old.
And I was like, oh, is that a thing and
it's a good quality mattress and she was like, yeah,
it's definitely a thing. You got to you got to
replace your mattress. But this morning you are taking my
wife to task. You have tips on being more sustainable
in the bedroom.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yes, I do, I do. I know exactly where you
should get your mattress. Next week, Oh okay, we'll start
there with mattresses because there's a lot of different things
we can do in the bedroom to be more sustainable.
Is a really great New Zealand brand and they actually
you know, like you said, when you look at your
mattress and you're low, it's only seven or eight years old,
you know, is that mattress going to go? We're not
(01:15):
just going to throw it in the in the tip?
Are we company actually take the mattress. They partner with
all the heart end z and they take it from
you when they're dropping new one off. You can organize
to that and it means that they can reuse the mattress,
take it apart if they need to, or give it
to a better home.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Oh cool, Okay, so they even if your previous mattress
isn't a company mattress, they do that.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yes, yep, Oh that's good.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
So we just got a new company mattress. It's awesome.
They have a showroom in Auckland and yeah, it's it's
a great system because I mean, a mattress you kind
of you don't know what to do with it. It's
a big, huge, huge thing. And yeah, it gets gets
a new.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Hunt And as the name would imply, are they indeed comfy?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
They are comfy, very comfy. I mean there's different obviously.
I don't know if you're a soft.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Or I don't like a firm mattress.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, but I've got that.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
They've got that for you.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Very good. Should you be rotating your mattress? Is there
a thing?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yes? Absolutely, you know when we talk about looking after
things well with your mattress one hundred percent. We've only
had our new mattress for a couple of months now,
but we've already rotated it.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
So oh okay, very good.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
We're trying to get onto that with this new mattress.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
How often are you going to do it?
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I think we're going to do it every couple of months.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
And so like you flip it, you totally flip it,
You're not just like spinning it.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Right, oh, we spin it because obviously it's got like
a top and a bottom. Yeah, yeah, a top and
a bottom.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And so just when you when you, does that mean
that you and your husband like you just end up
sleeping in their groove? Yes, right, but but it's better
to be sleeping in their groove than to be sleeping
solely in your groove because presumably yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, well, and I mean term is like much heavier.
He always has a bigger groove.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, true, true, yeah, yeah yeah, So it's for him
as much as the thing. Okay, so that's the mattress.
What about the sheets? What should be doing for sheets?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
So sheets aiming for cotton, linen or hemp, I mean,
all of those are quite a different feel, so it
really depends on what your preferences. There's even some bamboo
sheets which are really nice, but just the natural fiber
over synthetics is what you're aiming for. When possible.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
How do you clean them?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
So we wash ours in cold water, I mean anything
thirty degrees A lot of it is good just for
the longevity, and they only need to be washed in
cold water and air drying them on the line. It
is great. I think we're pretty good at that in
New Zealand. Ear drying rather than dryers. I think in
some parts of the world having a dryer is just
like a given.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Yes, I think.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
We're pretty pretty good over here. I'd like to think.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I know, I know some people who think that because
it makes them really crispy and they don't like that
feeling and they don't like it with their towels, especially
but they ear dry them and then they just put
them in the dry for like a couple of minutes, okay,
just to give because then it gives them.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
A yeah, yeah, yeah, which is which is a good
way to kind of do.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I always think too, like when you're if you're drying
it outside and it's proper, properly sunny, you just you
know that it's you know that it's good. You know,
you know that it's try. You know that everything's kind
of right. There's no bacteria left, like, there's.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Nothing UV raised, just so much wonders for Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, exactly. Okay, so so there's are you wash your sheets?
What about the other furniture in your bedroom?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yep? So again second hand, I'm really grateful that our
bed base is made by my father in law, which
is awful cool. You can get some great sickenhand bed bases,
saying with you know, if I look around my bedroom,
my dresser was inherited from Term's grandmother, a second hand
draw from a neighbor who is moving house. So yeah,
(04:59):
all of those types of things you can just get
such good quality. There's some things that I like, I
won't recommend people get. I'm a second hand shop, you know,
like even a bed mattress, right, I'm like, buy that new,
you know, villa, But furniture and things like that, just
it's such a bit of quality and so much more
beautiful in my opinion, from second hand storks.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, so funny you say that, I especially because there's
so much flat pack stuff that didn't exist fifteen or
twenty years ago, right, yeah, at least twenty years ago.
I recently, when we had our baby and I sort
of could see that my space in the closet was
being taken by someone else. I thought, oh, I need
a new chest of drawers. But I went and bought
(05:41):
a secondhand chest of drawers, like.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
A beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Remu secondhand chest of draws. Its probably thirty years old,
but had been sanded down and oiled and kind of
beautifully restored, and honestly, it is the most beautiful, the
single most beautiful piece of furniture in our house. Like
I sit there, and I sit there and look at
my is the drawers, and I'm like, oh my god,
(06:08):
look at the.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Grain on that.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yea, It's gorgeous, you know, and so good, Yeah, just
so good, And like this is so much. We said
for like if you can having having having like solid
wood furniture, but also just like there's honestly the secondhand
they're just as good as new, and they are just such.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
A more kind of notable piece of furniture than you wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
You wouldn't sit there and allounge and go oh look
at that grain exactly. No one's going to comment on it.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, yeah, anyway, Okay, so you've got your natural fibers
for your sheets and pillows and stuff.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
I presume the same thing applies for sleep.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
We yes, yep, if you wear it. I mean a
lot of people don't need sleep bear. That's apparently I
heard a study about how that's actually better to sleep naked. Anyway,
that's yeah, I'll find that one and may report back.
But yeah, natural fibers when you're when you're sleep, as
you know, you're lying there for a long time. Unless
(07:10):
you have a child, you're getting out quite a lot.
But yeah, something that's breathable, like even a like Marino
likes cotton. Yeah, there's so much better and more sustainable option.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Yeah, very good. Hey, thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
All of those tips will be up on the news
Talks'd website. You can find Kate, of course on social
media by searching ethically Kate see your own is Kate
Hall Now sustainability expert Jack.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Every week we.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Turn our mattress around every time we wash the sheet.
It's a really good way to keep the mattress even,
says Craig.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Good on your Craig, that's that's good. Yeah, I suppose,
especially if you've got.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
To pull the mattress out, you know how, like if
you've got a metro and to get the fitted sheet
over the mattress, the best way to do it is
actually often to pull it out from the head board area.
That's what I find anyway, Yeah, that could be a
good little option, but that is very discappoint of you, Craig.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to news talks that'd be from nine Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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