Facts About Mattresses

Mattresses and landfills do not mix well. First, mattresses take up a lot of space – up to 23 cubic feet each. If you multiply this by the more than 300 mattresses that are tossed daily, that’s a lot of waste occurring at high volumes.

Also, mattresses are difficult to breakdown because of the way they are manufactured. Their bulkiness and metal springs have a history of causing damage to landfill machinery. However, mattress recycling is gaining popularity due to the pesky amount of space mattresses take up in landfills.

In order to recycle a mattress, workers must tear the outside fabric apart and separate the inner springs, wood, cotton and foam. These materials are recycled in a number of ways:

• Metal springs are melted down and sold to steel companies
• The cotton and foam are bought by companies who use it for carpet bagging or insulation
• The wood is commonly sold to wood chippers or burnt for fuel

The good news is that recycling facilities can recycle 90 percent of the material in mattresses.