Spring Cleaning, Connecticut Initiates Mattress Recycling
Connecticut has introduced the nation’s first-ever mattress recycling program to get old beds off the curb and into the renewable waste stream via Park City Green, a cavernous warehouse in Bridgeport where mattresses go to die and get reborn. One of only two mattress recycling facilities in the state, it employs workers that manually break down bedding parts, separating the materials into giant piles of foam, mounds of cotton and tall stacks of metal springs. All this gets shipped off to junk dealers to be recycled and reclaimed for later use in the metal industry or as backing for carpets.
The city had been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to pick up mattresses on trash day and break them apart for disposal, but that figure is expected to drop to zero and create jobs at the same time. Connecticut’s program is voluntary, so municipalities don’t have to participate. But because it’s already being paid for by consumers and the mattress industry, state officials expect the program to grow. Already, more than 60 Connecticut communities are participating.
