Getting Rid of an Old Mattress in Canada
Mattresses. Those lovely things that make sleep so comfortable sometimes spring up in the most unusual places. My neighbour, for example, has two of them leaning against his garage. I’ve seen them on the streets, in back alleys, and even in the woods on occasion. Generally, I think most people want to do the right thing and get rid of their junk without resorting to throwing in on the street. Yes, there are quite a few boors who will litter to their hearts content but for the most part, trash at least winds up in a landfill.
But mattresses (along with tires) seem to be a special case. It’s a real hassle to get rid of a mattress. They’re big and hard to transport. The dump generally charges you to get rid of it. And considering that every mattress is mostly made up of reclaimable steel, foam, wood, and cotton and other fabric, recycling a mattress just makes good sense.
So where to turn? MattCanada (web site, listing), of course.
MattCanada is Canada’s only mattress recycling company. While they are located in Montreal and do appear to accept drop-offs from the general public, there’s not need to strap the mattress to your roof and make a trip (imagine the carbon footprint of a car driving from Toronto to Montreal with a mattress strapped to the roof!). MattCanada has partnered with a number of national mattress sellers to reclaim old mattresses. Mattress retailers often pick up your old mattress as part of the deal when you purchase a new mattress and those reclaimed mattresses can wind up at MattCanada. MattCanada charges between $10 - $15 per mattress or box spring and that cost is surely passed on to the consumer when a new mattress is purchased and the old one reclaimed by the retailer. Note that old mattresses must be wrapped before they can be picked up. Most retailers provide bags free of charge for this.
And if you don’t purchase a mattress from a retailer that offers old mattress pickup? Well, it seems that your options are limited. You could drive the mattress to Montreal or recycle it yourself. Be warned that mattresses are extremely well built so you probably won’t get the reclamation rate MattCanada does but with a little elbow grease and patience, you can probably separate the wood, metal, and fabric and recycle them.
posted by: Steve | posted on: 03 09 2008 | categories: Recycling