recycling

How do you get rid of your used mattress? We’ve all seen decaying old mattresses on the side of the road, or thrown down a ravine, or into a creek. Not good! Although landfills are a better choice, dumping fees are often imposed, and, from an environmental standpoint, this isn’t the optimal choice. About 50,000 used mattresses and box springs are carted off daily (yes, daily!) to U.S. landfills, where they can take more than a decade to decompose. It’s also not a good idea to pass along an old mattress to others, particularly children. Hat’s off to the bedding industry and its trade association, the International Sleep Products Association(ISPA), which has worked diligently to find solutions to this problem for decades. Today, its Mattress Recycling Council works closely with local governments, waste management professionals, recyclers, and others to make sure that mattress recycling is accessible and easy to use. Currently, three states have implemented MRC’s Bye Bye Mattress Program – California, Connecticut and Rhode Island – and more than 3 million mattresses have been recycled, diverting more than 25,000 tons of material from landfills. More than 80 percent of the metal, foam, and textiles that comprise your mattress [...]