5 Cool Things to Do with Old Mattresses

As you are well aware a mattress is big, bulky, and not very cooperative to being folded or smashed to make it into a more manageable chunk of garbage. Landfills prefer not to deal with them because they take up to 28 cubic feet of space that could be used for other loads of garbage that actually need to be disposed of.

There are many things that you can do with your old mattress, but here we will be discussing 5 cool things to do with them. Keep in mind that if you decide not to haul it to the landfill you are not only leaving room for other forms of garbage, but you are decreasing your personal footprints on the environment, and the Earth that depends upon it.

Photo credit: Pexels

If you are browsing through your social media feeds like Facebook you will see that people post things to give away all the time. There are many pages attached to people’s main profiles that are designed to buy and sell used items, like an online yard sale. If your mattress is still in usable shape this is one of the best things that you can do. Post it on some listing sites for free and someone in need will take it off your hands. If you are part of a church, or other group of people, ask if anyone there can use it. Call your local churches and homeless shelters to see if they need it. Animal rescue locations may even need a mattress for their rescued animals to sleep on.

Everything can be broken down to be reused. Mattress recycling is available through some of the local mattress warehouses, as well as some online sites. The catch is that you must purchase your new mattress from them before they will take it off your hands. Just make sure that you are going through a company that recycles them, and not one that will just have it hauled off with the rest of the garbage. As we mentioned in the beginning, this is what we are trying to avoid. Even though it has been taken off your hands, it is still your responsibility to make sure that it is reused.

If you have ever thought of restuffing your couch or chairs you know how much foam stuffing costs. The mattress that you are replacing will be full of foam, unless you have an inner spring bed (if so, skip to the next cool thing to do with your old mattress). Take it apart and cut the chunks of foam out that you need to restuff your furniture. If you have some left over save it for other projects or give it to a friend that needs to use it.

The springs that are found in many mattresses and box springs can be used for a variety of home projects. Wine holders, plant holders, and so on. If you need some ideas check out this site, they have numerous options for you to choose from. You can also just brainstorm, as well, to come up with some uses.

If you have a compost pile already started, or if you were thinking of starting one, the stuffing inside of your old mattress can be used as compost. Use the wood frame to build a container to hold it and cover the pile with the mattress lining to maximize the process. Any springs that you remove can be used for various types of projects (read above), or they can be given away to someone that needs them for theirs.

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These are 5 cool things to do with old mattresses. All of them will decrease the amount of garbage going to the landfill and follow along with your need to reduce your footprints upon the world. If the mattress is not in good enough shape to donate to someone in need, there are so many other things that you can do with it besides pitching it into the local dump.

Published in: Ideas | Author: Yanita