If you’re thinking about changing your mattress or bed, you’re probably also wondering what to do with the old one.
Mattresses, as we all know, lose their performance over time. It will ultimately exhibit signs of damage because you spend a third of your day in it. Elasticity and bounce will be lost in some spots. They won’t be as helpful as they used to be. After nearly ten years of providing you with a pleasant resting surface, they will lose their coziness and comfort.
It’s time to acquire a new mattress if you wake up with bodily discomfort or find it difficult to get relaxed in your old one. The notion is exciting, especially if you’ve been experiencing the negative effects of sleeping in an uncomfortable position. The only thing holding you back is figuring out how you’ll get rid of the old mattress.
You can’t just abandon an old mattress in your house unattended. You can’t just leave it sitting at the top of the bed and then replace it with a new one because the new mattress will lose its performance quality if you stack it on top of the old mattress. Not to mention, stacking mattresses will provide additional height challenges for your bed.
Why Should You Replace Your Mattress?
While it can be difficult to find the right mattress for you, every mattress owner eventually realizes that it’s time to upgrade.
Some people choose to replace their mattress and want to try a new design or mattress type, while others do so because their comfort needs have changed over time due to factors such as age, weight increase or loss, and/or injuries. Even if they aren’t interested in other mattresses, they will have to replace their mattress at some point.
Are you intending to buy a new mattress but don’t know what to do with your old one? We understand how difficult it may be to move the bed, especially given its weight and size. As a result, you must check that you have all of the necessary information on the correct disposal of the old mattress.
When Is It Time for a New Bed?
An ancient mattress has a few obvious markers, and the first is the date of purchase. It’s probably time for a new mattress if you bought yours when President Obama first took office.
If you go to bed feeling fine but wake up with a throbbing pain in your back or hips, your mattress has likely acquired sags and bumps over time. Physical pain is caused by lumps and sags, which might be enough to keep you awake at night. If you strip your bedding down to the bare mattress, you may be able to see them. If this is the case, you should seriously consider recycling your old mattress and replacing it.
Furthermore, some people experience big life changes, such as massive weight loss or increase, moving in with a spouse, or shifting to a better house with more space. In these cases, you may choose to invest in a new bed.
A person’s weight influences how a bed feels, and reducing or adding 100 pounds might drastically alter your opinion of your mattress. If you plan to share your bed with a partner or move into a home with a large bedroom, you may wish to upgrade your mattress size.
Can You Throw It Out?
Of course, what you can do with your bed frame and old mattress will depend on their condition, and if they are beyond fixing, you may have no choice but to discard them.
However, it is not as easy as throwing your mattress in the trash. You can carry the mattress to the dump, but this is a time-consuming process that would necessitate the use of a van. Sometimes local jurisdictions will also demand you to get a permit, so if you decide to go this way, check with your municipality online first.
City authorities provide a heavy waste collection service that includes mattress and bed frame disposal. Some councils demand a service charge, and if you’re going to get rid of both an old mattress and your bed, you’ll have to pay a fee for each item separately. You may save money by watching DIY Youtube videos or reading online blogs on how to disassemble or dispose of a bed frame.
While it’s quite simple to buy a new mattress online, finding someone to dispose of your old mattress is far more difficult. Here are some solutions for you:
Reuse for Kids’ Playtime
If you have a play area for your children at home, you can simply move the old mattress back and let them play on it. It can be used as an inside trampoline if it is sufficiently bouncy. They won’t be able to do flips in them, but they’ll have loads of fun bouncing around in them.
Old mattresses can also be used to create cushioning for jungle gyms as well as other climbing play places for your kids. They can help keep your children safe during playtime, so you may not need to completely get rid of an old mattress if it is still in good condition.
However, make sure it’s fully cleaned before allowing your children to play with it. You may rest assured that they are perfectly safe to be around your loved ones in this manner.
Donate Your Old Mattress to Charity
A mattress has an average life of 7 to 10 years. You should consider donating your mattress if it is still in good shape. This way, your old mattress could still help someone in need, as many individuals would rather have a worn mattress than none at all.
However, there are a few things to check before choosing to donate the mattress. Before you try to donate your mattress, make sure it’s in good shape because most donation centers won’t accept a damaged mattress. Fortunately for us, they all adhere to relatively similar norms, which we shall discuss here. Before donating your mattress, ensure it doesn’t have any of the following issues:
Check to see whether the old mattress has any apparent rips or damage of any kind. Donation centers will not take a mattress with cover damage since many of them will try to resell it and will not replace the cover, so if it is damaged, they will not accept it.
Mattresses that sag in the middle or on the sides of the bed is also a severe issue. This one may appear straightforward, but there are several reasons why they will not accept a sagging mattress. To begin with, usually, mattresses sag as their coils have rusted and/or their foam has been squeezed due to dust mites occupying the mattress for years, and this type of mattress is only suitable for recycling. Second, as previously said, a charitable organization may use or sell mattresses to generate revenue, but the mattress needs to be in usable condition for them to utilize or sell it.
There must be no visible stains on the mattress for a variety of reasons. To begin with, stains indicate that the mattress is not at all sanitary and that the new user may be in danger of using it. Second, any wet damage to the mattress will cause the foam to compress, rendering the mattress useless, and the donation center will refuse to take it.
Sell Your Old Mattress
One alternative for free mattress elimination is to sell it because, depending on its condition, it might be suitable for someone else. It is a popular choice since you can recover some of your original cost by trying to sell it, even if it is a small fee. Of course, the state of your old mattress will have a significant impact on this.
The following are some suggestions for marketing your mattress online:
Make sure your mattress is in good shape
If you want to get rid of this because you want a new one, that’s great. However, if it has significant wear and is more than eight years old, your prospects of selling it are minimal.
Take high-quality images
If you’re selling the old mattress online, you’ll need to have some photos to go with your ad. Make sure they’re taken in decent lighting with a better camera (most smartphones come with superb cameras built-in), as this will encourage folks to inquire about your goods.
Describe any flaws
Your mattress may have a minor blemish on one side, which is great because many people would still be eager to participate in it. However, you must ensure that any damages such as this are disclosed in the web advertisement. If not, the potential customer may be disappointed when they arrive in person to buy the mattress and discover this isn’t in the condition they expected.
Send Your Mattress to a Recycling Center
If donating or selling your mattress is not the option for you, you may still take it to a recycling plant to dispose of it. You can get rid of your bed in good conscience by doing this. However, the tools and initiatives available at your local recycling center will determine how you dispose of this item. As a result, you should do your homework.
Local governments run initiatives that allow residents to recycle old mattresses for free. Other municipal governments, on the contrary, levy a little price for the service. If you can get a free recycling process, you must contact the related organization to set up logistics. Don’t let the criteria for recycling your old mattress deter you. After all, you’ll be performing a great service to the environment.
To Conclude
The solutions listed above are some of the most effective methods for disposing of an old mattress. Although it is tempting to dispose of your mattress on your own, we do not recommend it, especially if you want to tear it up and burn it. This is not only against local council guidelines, but it is also environmentally harmful and a potential fire threat.