Good for you! You want to recycle a mattress you no longer need instead of dumping it in a landfill. But how do you make that happen?
Sure, it sounds simple enough at first, but mattresses are heavy, bulky and hard to transport. And you need to know where to take it.
Did you know that a typical mattress takes up about 23 cubic feet of landfill space. In fact, enough mattresses are disposed of this way each year - about 12 to 15 million of them - to cover over 130,000 square miles of space!
Clearly it's better to recycle a mattress than to dump it. So, what do you do?
A Few Good Mattress Recycling Tips
First things first: is your old mattress still in good shape? In other words, is it still usable? You may no longer want it or need it, but if it's clean and in good condition then it may still have a few years of use left in it.
If so, you could consider selling it or donating it.
On the selling side of this proposal you have a few options. Back in the pre-Internet age it was not at all uncommon to offer your old mattress in the local classified ads of the newspaper or in a yard sale or garage sale. And you can still do that today. The big difference is that the classifieds tend to be online nowadays.
But having a yard sale is still big business in many communities. In addition, there are a few places you might be able to sell a really nice, gently used mattress such as second-hand stores or local consignment shops.
Online options continue to grow every year and there numbers of websites where you can sell personal and household items including good, used mattresses.
A few to consider include:And there are more. The point is that options abound though you should research any prospective site or platform to ensure that used mattresses are accepted for listing.
What about donating your old mattress?
There are a few second-hand stores and large non-profit organizations that will not accept used mattresses as donations. However, there are plenty that will.
It still pays to call ahead and confirm that the place you want to donate to does take used mattresses. And you can also confirm if they offer free pickup service, as well.
But donating your clean, but gently-used old mattress can be a huge benefit to someone in need. If you think about it, everyone needs a mattress.
With a population of about 330, 000, 000 people in the United States, that's a lot of mattresses! And not everyone has the means to purchase a new mattress when the need arises. Especially when you consider that the average price for a queen mattress is about $900 or so.
A few organizations that will accept your donated mattress:
But what if you decide that you either don't want to sell or donate your old mattress, or you know that it's not in good enough condition to do so? What do you do with it then? You might be able to give it to a family member, or just throw it against a wall in the garage or basement, but that's not the best solution, is it?
Maybe you can just dispose of it somewhere, but there is still a better option than taking your old, unusable mattress to your local dump or landfill. You can consider mattress recycling.
Yes, You Can Recycle a Mattress
We noted at the start of this post that recycling a mattress is possible, but not necessarily easy. And both of these points are true.
The reality is that up to 90 percent of the material in a typical innerspring mattress can be recycled and reused. In fact, a mattress is such a great candidate for recycling that dumping one shouldn't even be considered as an option.
Between the metal in the springs and brackets, the wood in the frame, and the foam and fabric materials, there is little if anything that is toxic, and much that is reusable. Unfortunately, there are no federal or state laws requiring that used mattresses be recycled.
However, three states - California, Connecticut, and Rhode Island - have mattress recycling laws that require manufacturers and retailers to include a disposal fee with each mattress sale. These fees are used to fund the recycling of old mattresses after new ones are sold and delivered.
The only real issues are where can you take your mattress for recycling and how do you get it there?
Loading and transporting a mattress is not easy. Especially if you don't have another person or two to help. And you'll need a proper vehicle to move a mattress in. This can also involve tying or strapping it down, and then unloading it when you get to wherever you take it.
And where are you going to take your old mattress for recycling?
Depending on where you live, there are resources that will allow you to locate the nearest mattress recycling facility. One good site is byebyemattress.com, which includes California. Another good resource is Earth911.com for it's guides and directories.
However, there is an easier way to get this done and it's not by doing it yourself!
Don’t Do It Yourself - Use Professional Mattress Recycling
Old mattress recycling doesn't have to be a major challenge for you. By bringing in a professional team of junk removal experts, you simply have to point to the items and sit back while they do all the work.
At Junk King, our full-service mattress removal and recycling eliminates the need for maneuvering old mattresses because we can haul and recycle them for you. You can recycle your old mattress today and even schedule other bulk junk pickups by calling or by booking online.
Junk King provides an efficient, safe and eco-friendly mattress disposal service to make the whole process easy for you. Our experienced mattress removal team will have the manpower to haul off that mattress and even the bed frame without damaging any of your home on the way out.
We’ll do all the heavy lifting - no need to carry items out to the curb and have them be an eyesore for your neighbors. Finally, we’ll make sure that the mattress and other unwanted items are disposed of at a proper recycling facility to avoid any harm to our ecosystem.
Our professional and insured mattress disposal team will show up at your home or office; we call 15 minutes before we arrive on site and we’ll give you a free estimate based on how much room your items take up in our truck. You point and we haul your items into our junk removal trucks, with no hidden fees.
Ready to get rid of your old mattress? It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3. You make an appointment by booking online above or by calling 1.888.888.JUNK (5865).
