So your mattress has reached the end of its life…

Find the next destination of your old, unwanted mattress and avoid the landfill at all costs. Based on the condition of your mattress, we will help you decide if it should be recycled or donated – never dumped.

Twenty-million mattresses are improperly disposed of every year in the United States – meaning they end up in a landfill. To put this into perspective, the number of mattresses dumped in a landfill could circle the earth. What a shame considering 85% of the materials in a mattress can be recycled!

This information might sound shocking, but think about how many unwanted mattresses you’ve come across in your own neighborhood. You’ve probably seen many a mattress dumped on the curb for the trash collectors.

Have you ever thought about what you would do with your old mattress? Probably not. After all, the average lifetime of a mattress is 7 to 10 years – so it’s not a regular habit to get rid of your mattress like it would be to take out the trash. That’s why no one really knows what to do with their old mattress.

We are here to tell you that there are options! Contrary to popular belief, there are responsible ways to dispose of your mattress.

Before you ask yourself, “Why to bother?”, consider these consequences:

1. You could be fined for illegally dumping your mattress
2. Mattresses take a decade to decompose
3. Some materials in mattresses are non-biodegradable chemicals that can seep into drinking water
4. Mattress springs get caught in equipment, causing damage and imposing costs
5. They can create flammable air pockets

Here’s how to get rid of your mattress without getting fined or destroying the earth:

Option 1: Donate Your Mattress

Before tossing your old mattress, consider giving it to someone in need!

Keep in mind, this is a more conditional option. For a mattress to be donated, it must be free of any rips or stains. (If that’s the case, check out option two below about recycling your mattress.)

For those of you still with us, you should know there are many laws about donating and reselling mattresses. So even if your old bed is in decent condition, there may not be any place to donate it in your area.

Donating your mattress is easy. All you have to do is call your local charity and ask if they accept mattress donations. If they do, most of the time they will come pick it up at your house for free! If not, load it up in the car and drop it off.

Almost all donated mattresses are taken to be sanitized before they are offered to someone in need. For more information, check out Mattress Advisor’s guide to donating your mattress.

Option 2: Recycle Your Mattress

Okay, so your mattress has reached the end of its life – or so you thought! Although it’s life as a bed is over, consider all the ways it can be repurposed. For example, as carpet underlay, yarn, mulch, clothing and much more!

Source: mattressadvisor.com

If recycling sounds like a good option for your situation, check out this guide to recycling your mattress. It will tell you everything you need to know about how, why and where to recycle your mattress.

Once again, the process of recycling a mattress varies from state to state and sometimes city to city. To get you started, find places to recycle your mattress near you:

1. Earth 911
2. Bye Bye Mattress – for those of you in California, Rhode Island and Connecticut
3. Sleep on Latex – 100 recycling facilities nationwide that accept mattresses
4. Keep America Beautiful

A word of caution

There is the option to call a junk removal service such as 1-800-GOT-JUNK and College Hunks Hauling Junk. Just make sure to call and ask where they take the mattresses in your area. Oftentimes, they take them to the landfill – which we are trying to avoid! However, sometimes they DO recycle. Just make sure you know where your bed is going, and try to avoid the landfill at all costs!