Do you ever see mattresses discarded on a street corner or dumped by the side of the road? Why do people do this? Probably because they can be difficult to dispose of, sometimes costly, or people are just not sure what to do with them. Some states even have laws preventing them from ending up in landfills.
With up to 20 million mattresses and box springs disposed of each year there is a need to deter them from landfills and to recycle them. Each mattress/box spring has over 80% of recyclable materials, there is not much that can’t be recycled. These are:
- Fabric - Is sometimes already made of recycled material and can be recycled again for mattresses or other industries (clothing, insulation).
- Springs and metal - Can be melted and recycled for numerous applications.
- Foam - Is chopped up and used in padding (floor, sound, etc)
- Wood - Is recycled in pulp for paper, fuel, mulch, boxes, and much much more.
Now you are asking how do I get rid of this darn thing! Well, there are a couple of options:
- The company you bought your new mattress through will sometimes dispose of your old one for free or a small fee.
- Dispose of it yourself. Call your local city hall or transfer station to see if they accept them or if they recycle them. Cost should run anywhere from $10 to $30 per mattress/box spring.
- Sell it on Craigslist, Letgo, a Facebook sale site, or any other outlet.
- Donate it. This probably will take a lot of time, but call around to organizations who might have a need for something like this. Some ideas: Goodwill, Salvation Army, halfway houses, homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, and thrift/consignment stores. Some states have laws against resale of used mattress.
- Some areas have companies that deal only will mattress recycling. Try Googling mattress recycler.
- A majority of junk removal companies will remove and dispose of it (or any other junk). The pros are you don't have to do much physical labor, but the con is that it will cost you approximately $100 to dispose off.
- Rent a dumpster. If you have a bunch of other debris to dispose of this would be the economical way, but make sure you check first with the company to see if they will take them and if so is there any additional charge.
- Check out Earth911.com. This is a site where you can type in your zip code and find resources for disposing of certain items locally.
For more information on items that are allowed in our rentals, or recycle items, please feel free to call our office or contact us online.
978.582.1176
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