The hustle and bustle in Sydney could make your day tiring, and all you need is an excellent mattress to relax. But like anything else, beds are not immune to wear and tear. A time will come when your beloved mattress needs to be replaced and disposed of appropriately. Recycling is the smartest way to dispose of your old mattresses than sending it on landfill sites.
Furthermore, most mattresses need replacement after using it for more than eight years. Statistically, there are around 1.25 million mattresses sent to landfill in Australia. Each of it is taking 0.75 cubic metres of considerable space in the landfill and continues filling the site in an incredible amount.
With that problem, recycling is essential to divert mattresses from landfills. The recycling process can harness 80 per cent of the mattress components such as wood, foam and springs, turning into several products. Getting to know the impact of throwing old beds in the environment and community are enough to convince you that mattress recycling is possible.
That said, let’s see how mattress recycling becomes possible and how it’s done.
Ways in Recycling Your Mattress
Recycling your mattress will depend on the ease of cleaning it and the wear and tear it obtained after years of using. Always remember that you’re not recycling when you’re not reusing it. The first option to recycle mattresses is to think if you can gain from it by selling it in secondhand or thrift stores.
If you don’t want to bother yourself in selling it, give it to charity organisations and homeless shelters. These organisations have ways to reuse your mattress by turning it over to homeless families and people needing it the most.
But you don’t want to donate a mattress that even you won’t sleep in. So better check if it’s in acceptable condition and not infested with bed bugs. Also, it’s necessary to clean and disinfect your mattress before donating it.
The last option to deal with the hassle of disposing of mattresses is to call junk removal services. These services are the same as your council’s hard rubbish collection equipped with mattress recycling facilities. Availing such services ensure that mattresses won’t end up in landfills.
Turning Mattresses Into Useful Form
Apart from selling or donating, recycling is possible in a mattress recycling facility. The facility cuts open the mattresses to sort out the materials that need recycling. Here are the mattresses components that can turn into useful forms:
Foam
Most of the consideration in disposing of your mattress starts with the damage in the foam. Utilising the foams from old mattresses can turn into carpet underlayment or animal bed padding.
Steel Springs
The scrap metal merchants will melt and extract metals and steel springs in your mattress. It then transforms to roof sheetings and other products essential in buildings, cars and appliances.
Timber
The recovered timber in your mattress can turn into wood chips for particleboard manufacturing. Also, the shredded particles are suitable for landscaping mulch or burned as an alternative fuel source.
Fabrics
Fabrics are considerably the problematic part of the mattress to recycle. But it can be shredded into fibres for yarn or rags made when blended with other products. It’s also usable for industrial filters and other textile applications.
Benefits of Mattress Recycling
Some would think that the easiest way to dispose of your mattress is leaving it on the curbside. Throwing it wherever outside your home is an illegal act unless it’s ready for a council collection. Thus recycling your mattress can help you reduce unlawful dumping in your area and avoid the hefty fine along with it.
Moreover, recycling these materials help minimise the raw materials extracted in the environment. In effect, the minimised extraction process reduces its contribution to water and air pollution. Most importantly, it lessens the space and effort in operating landfills.
Conclusion
The possibility of mattress recycling comes with great effort and the right technology. Recycling your mattresses is doable through donation or with the aid of recycling facilities that transform what seems to be useless. On a broader view, recycling these materials is the start of sustainable living.
Pauls’ Rubbish Removal provides mattress removal services and help you recycle your mattresses and take it on the recycling centres. We are connected to Sydney’s vast network of recycling facilities that are compliant with the NSW EPA guidelines. Our team always believes in the significance of recycling in every way possible for a sustainable and greener environment.
Call us on 0407 125 125, and team with our expert removalists for a free quote today.
