08 May Mattress Recycling
Passing Down an Old Mattress
Your mattress is probably one of the biggest investments you make in terms of items around you home, which is why it can be tempting for many people to pass along an old mattress from one person to the next like a family heirloom. While this may seem like a great idea to help you save hundreds of dollars on not buying a new mattress, handing down an old mattress can have several problematic implications.
Why Are You Getting Rid of It?
When you are ready to get a new mattress, and trying to decide what to do with your old one, ask yourself why you are replacing the mattress. In many cases, the reason is that the mattress has become saggy, lumpy, or generally unsupportive for you, so you need to find a new one for good support. In other cases it may be that the mattress has become damaged, or (in really bad situations) it has bed bugs, chemicals, or some other problem.
If you are replacing your old mattress for any of these reasons, it would make a terrible hand-me-down. If your mattress is not supportive enough or comfortable enough for you to keep, it is not supportive or comfortable enough for someone else, especially younger children whose bodies are often at a critical developmental stage and require high quality, restful sleep to develop properly. If your answer is the latter and you have a bed contaminated with bed bugs or other toxins or chemicals, you definitely should not give it away.
Can I Donate It?
When your mattress reaches the end of its useful life in your home and you’re headed to 2 Brothers Mattress for a new one, you may be considering donating the mattress to Salvation Army, Goodwill, or another similar organization. While some will take your used mattress, often the hassle and expense to get the mattress into working order is more than they are able to handle. In order to reuse or resell a mattress, these organizations will need to have it professionally cleaned and fumigated to remove any residual contaminants, which can be very costly and a big hassle. Today many organizations do not want to accept used mattresses because of these costs.
Should I Dispose of It?
The next option for most people is to just throw the mattress away. While this is not illegal, it’s also not very earth-friendly. There are millions of mattresses sold in the U.S. each year, many of them made from non-renewable materials. About 20 million of those mattresses are thrown out each year, according to a report by ABC News, and each one takes up 23 cubic feet of landfill space. Instead of throwing it out, consider recycling your old mattress.
There are plenty of places that offer mattress recycling services, which can reduce the amount of landfill in the U.S. by billions of tons every year. Since mattresses are made of recyclable things like metal, wood, foam, and cotton, it’s a great option to keep your mattress alive and useful, but not in mattress form.
When you buy a new mattress from a place like 2 Brothers Mattress, you can often have the company haul away your old mattress the same day, and have them dispose of it. If you’re concerned that they may just throw it away, you can also search online for a nearby recycling facility that will accept mattresses. There may be a fee associated with the recycling.
When it’s time to upgrade your mattress, don’t let the used mattress take up space in the landfill, or cause someone else discomfort; instead recycle it and be earth-friendly while you’re relaxing on that new bed.
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