Mattress recycling is essential to decrease their environmental impact. Some states have special laws to ensure that mattresses will end up in their right place. These massive and large pieces may take several years to break down. It is essential to understand what happened to old mattresses in landfills.
A mattress is made of both inorganic and organic material. When you buried them in the ground, the material breaks down slowly. Unlike in manure that mimics natural procedure to break down organic material, trashes in landfill break down after their contact with air.
Some materials may take more time to break, but the procedure takes several years. Natural textiles, such as latex, wood, wool, and cotton can decompose in 2 to 3 years, but synthetic fabric, plastics, and metals may hang around for centuries.
During the degradation procedure, these materials emit chemicals in the local environment. A mattress includes fungicides, dyes, and bleaches in fabrics, petrochemicals, and flame-retardants in foam and other substances. These things can pollute groundwater.
The material of mattresses can be toxic for animals, plants, and humans. These chemicals can pollute your groundwater and ecosystem. Instead of sending your mattresses in a grave, it will be better to recycle them.
How to recycle mattresses?
Mattresses are made of different materials, such as metal, wool, cotton, latex, wood, and foam. Recycled mattresses allow you to separate these materials. Here are some steps to deal with the recycling procedure:
- You can process, wash and shred plastics and foams in a mattress for carpet padding.
- Wool and cotton flock is easy to process and clean for use in recycled or yarn textiles.
- Lower-grade fabrics can be reused in vehicle interiors and matting.
- Wood is easy to chip to burn as fuel or used as insulation.
You can use these pieces of recycled mattresses for humanity, instead of increasing pollution. Recyclable parts of a mattress are box spring, wooden parts, upholstery, foam, and springs.
Other methods to get rid of old mattresses
Recycling is not the only option for old mattresses. If you don’t want to do recycling, you can sell your old mattress in a garage sale. Online platforms like Craigslist can be a practical option to sell your old product. It will be an easy product selection method for those people who want to buy old furniture in good condition. In this way, you can make little money while saving your planet.
If you are not interested in selling your mattress, you can donate old mattress. Try to find a needy person in your surroundings or find an online website for donation. It will be a great way to help poor and needy people. You can donate your mattress to the Salvation Army. They offer free pickup services to pick old furniture and mattresses.
Upcycle a mattress
You can upcycle your mattress to create high-quality products. There are different methods of upcycling, such as create wine racks, gates, and crafty fences, durable plant trellises, lawn furniture or pet beds.
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