What's in a Mattress?

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Ever heard of Mattress Recycling?

Each year in Canada, 6 million mattresses are disposed of, and a mattress can take up as much as 40 cubic feet in a landfill – that's a lot of wasted space! 

If you have old or unwanted mattresses at your home or business, don’t throw them away. Instead, consider recycling them. 

A common mattress is made up of various materials including foam, cotton, wood, metal and steel. It is this wide mix of components that makes mattress recycling a daunting task. That’s one of the main reasons why many municipal recycling programs do not include mattresses in their list of recyclables.

Advantages of Recycling Mattresses:

• Landfill equipment problems, created by mattress springs, can be greatly reduced.
• Landfill space problems, created by mattresses, can also be reduced.
• We can have cleaner roadsides, with a reduction in illegal mattress dumping.
• Mattresses can be 95% recycled into their raw materials, and then into reusable products.
• Mattress recycling benefits local businesses who can use the salvaged materials and products.
• Many communities are no longer accepting used mattresses in landfills, or are charging large fees for disposal.
• Recycling mattresses saves energy, and reduces waste, greenhouse gases and the use of natural resources.

Mattress Facts:

• Mattresses have a life span of about 10.8 years.
• Mattresses have a compaction rate 400% less than regular garbage, thus making them a problem in all landfills.
• The average mattress takes up 23 cubic feet of landfill space, but the largest mattresses take up about 40 cubic feet.
• One mattress can take decades to decompose.
• Many mattresses end up going to "rebuilders". "Rebuilders" claim to recycle mattresses, however, in reality, many of them put a new cover on your dirty used mattress and sell it as new. Yuck!

Want more mattress information? Check out Re-Matt's FAQ page for mattress recycling inquiries.