Steel springs
About 46% of a mattress. Sold as scrap to steelmakers and melted into new steel products.
One old mattress.
Four second lives.
Every mattress Bulk Away collects goes to a recycler that takes it apart completely, down to the springs, so its steel, foam, fiber, and wood can be used again.
- Licensed & insured
- Broken down completely
Where it all goes.
Material by material.
Up to 75% of a mattress’s components can be recycled into new products, according to the Mattress Recycling Council. Steel and wood are recovered almost entirely; fibers are the hardest part.
Foam
About 26% of a mattress. Shredded and bonded into carpet padding.
Fabric & fiber
Quilt panels, felt, and batting. Turned into non-woven pads and industrial filters where it can be recovered.
Wood
About 61% of a box spring. Chipped for landscaping mulch or biomass fuel.
Why not the landfill?
Springs and space.
An estimated 15 to 20 million mattresses are discarded in the United States every year. They’re bulky, they don’t compact, and their springs tangle in landfill equipment.
In California, recycling 5 million mattresses saved more than 6 million cubic yards of landfill space. Closer to home, a 2019 KSL investigation found the Salt Lake County Landfill had spent more than $77,000 repairing machinery damaged by mattress springs.
Help it get recycled
- Keep it dry.Wet or heavily soiled mattresses are much harder to recycle. If it has been outside, tell us.
- Tell us about pests.Infested items require completed extermination procedures before removal.
- Leave the lifting to us.Tell us where it is, and the crew carries it out.
Sources
- Mattress Recycling Council, Composition Analysis (2021)
- Mattress Recycling Council, “Up to 75% of a mattress’s components can be recycled” (2024)
- Keep America Beautiful, 15–20 million mattresses discarded each year (2024)
- Recycling Product News, California’s 5 million recycled mattresses (2020)
- KSL, Salt Lake County Landfill mattress handling and equipment repairs (2019)
Ready to let it go?
We’ll take it from here.
Homes, apartment communities, and businesses across Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, and Weber counties.