Can I Recycle My Old Mattress?

Are you looking for a new mattress but wondering what to do with that sunken-in, stained, old mattress?? Don’t just go and dump it somewhere where it can cause problems for someone else – the answer is to recycle!! Now many may tell you that to recycle an old mattress could take a bit of effort, but it is the safest, healthiest and most eco-friendly way to go.

All the old mattresses are taken apart and each component is recycled separately. The wood from the bed base, foam, cotton and steel springs can all be recycled. The steel springs are great for recycling as they are easily melted down and then can be used for construction purposes. The springs are removed from the mattress with a magnet holding them and the other material surrounding them is shredded off. The stuffing of the mattress (cotton and foam) is used to stuff pillows and beds for pets, as carpet padding and in reupholstering furniture. A bed base (wood) is shredded for lawn mulch, cut up as firewood and as carpentry wood.

The advantages of recycling your mattress are as follows:

• Reduces greenhouse gases.
• Offers a higher financial incentive as opposed to landfills.
• Helps preserve the heavy equipment used at landfills, as bed springs are hard on these machines.
• Reduces taxes and fees for waste disposal.
• Reduces illegal mattress dumping ( there are many dangers of dumping mattresses rather than recycling them. They create flammable air pockets that are extremely hazardous, the soft material absorb toxic chemicals, the springs jam landfill machinery and they take up space as they are not biodegradable).