How to Recycle a Mattress: 5 Useful Tips
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Codee Chessher
- Last updated:
When your old mattress just is not providing you with the quality of sleep you need to tackle everyday life, it may be time for a replacement. But first, you have to decide what to do with your old bed.
With over 20 million mattresses 1 clogging up landfills all over the US, it can be tough to just toss it out. At 40 cubic feet per mattress, the waste adds up fast. As it turns out, there are some ways you can tell you need a replacement bed, as well as ideas for reusing, recycling, and repurposing it. Let’s dive in below.
Signs You Need a New Mattress
Mattresses typically last a while, so it can be tough to know when yours is nearing the end of its life. Luckily, there are some telltale signs you can keep a keen eye out for. If you’re noticing one or more of the below signs, you need a new bed.
- Sagging in the middle or on either side of the mattress
- Creaking when you sit or lie down on the mattress
- Visible damage to parts of the mattress
- Lumps
- Waking up with back or neck pain
- You can feel springs through the mattress
How to Recycle a Mattress
1. Locate a Household Recycling Center
To recycle your mattress, you’ll have to do a bit more legwork because you can’t just stuff it in the recycling bin. First, you have to locate a household recycling center, which commonly accepts mattresses for recycling. They can recycle up to 80% of a mattress’s parts, so you are saving quite a bit of material from the landfill.
2. Consider Donating Your Mattress
If recycling isn’t a feasible option for you, step back and take a look at your mattress. Is it in good, unstained condition? Is it less than a decade old? It might be a prime candidate for donation!
Check with local charities like Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill, the Salvation Army, and others. They can always use more mattresses, but standards as to what constitutes an acceptable bed have risen in recent years. The mattress must be in good shape, or they may not accept it.
3. Sell it Online
Facebook, Amazon, Craigslist, LetGo, and various other online sites have made selling items near you easier than ever. Shipping long distances is a hassle, but by utilizing common sense you can safely sell your used mattress online as long as it’s in decent condition.
Only meet potential buyers in well-lit, public spaces like a Walmart, park, or coffee shop. Never accept checks or bank transfers either because those are popular tricks used by scammers. If donation and recycling aren’t an option, selling them is always a great way to make a few bucks and free up space.
4. Check for Buyback Programs and Warranties
If your bed is still under warranty or covered by a buyback program, you’re in luck! That means the manufacturer will accept your mattress and recycle it for you.
It’s important to always keep tabs on the warranties for items like beds because they’re long-term investments. If the bed is broken through a defect, you could even get a brand-new bed out of the deal.
5. Give It Away
If you can’t recycle your mattress and don’t care about making money from it, you can always just give it away. Post in local social media groups and ask neighbors, friends, or relatives if anyone could use a bed. You have to make sure it’s in decent enough condition, but this can be one of the quickest ways to get rid of an old mattress.
Conclusion
When you buy a new bed, you have to consider what to do with the old one. Recycling it is the most effective way to reuse the bed’s components, but giving it away, donating it to a charity, and selling it are all viable paths as well.
Featured Image Credit: Pixel-Shot, Shutterstock
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