Mattress recycling

What should you do with your old mattress?

Mattresses are one of the most common things to be fly-tipped - left at the side of the road or in a derelict area. There are even websites that are dedicated to showcasing photographs of mattresses that have been dumped on the street or left in incongruous or unsuitable places.

The value of mattresses

With so much emphasis on recycling, and with most of us needing to dispose of more than one mattress every 8-10 years, it seems natural that people should want to recycle their mattresses rather than see them go to landfill. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happens to most mattresses today, despite the fact that they hold a large percentage of recyclable material.

Accnewsmedia.com has been quoted as saying: "The impact on landfills is incredible.... each mattress takes up 23 cubic feet of landfill space.... mattresses contain from six to eight pounds of polyurethane, which has a high material recycle value."

Many mattresses also contain springs and wiring, which is capable of being reclaimed and re-used, but there are very few schemes that allow these materials to be recycled:

• St. Vincent de Paul Society - based in Lane County, Oregon, USA, the Society has been recycling mattresses since 1994. Now employing 8 people in San Leandro, CA, their mattress recycling facility handles around 500 mattresses every day, which have usually been collected through partnerships with landfill agencies and waste collection teams. The mattresses are stripped down and separated into their recyclable parts, which include springs, polyurethane foam, cotton fibre, sisal fibre and wood.

• FEAT Enterprises is based in Fife, Scotland and is a social firm - providing employment and opportunities to disabled or disadvantaged people. Over the past 3 years, FEAT has received over £130,000 in grants for their mattress recycling project, called SpringBack. After a slow start, SpringBack now operates in four Scottish local authority areas, with springs, foam, and wood from bed bases being successfully recycled.

Mattresses take up a huge amount of landfill space when there are clearly recycling opportunities available. The increase in the number of people who are concerned about what they throw away may lead to a growth in the number of schemes that aid mattress recycling.

Mattress Next Day is probably the largest mattress superstore on the internet. Selling a wide range of mattresses from leading manufacturers, we can offer quality mattresses at fantastic prices. Our next day delivery service is free or, if you prefer, you can select your own delivery date. We can even guarantee delivery before 9.30am on request. Take a look at our range of mattresses now at www.mattressnextday.co.uk, or call us on 0844 3911 222 for more information.