You would not believe how many mattresses go into the waste stream every year in Australia. The answer is around one million. Unwanted mattresses are disposed of illegally every day, accounting for at least 20 percent of the inorganic waste around the blocks or alleyways.
To put it in picture, laying the mattress end-to-end is about the distance from Melbourne to Brisbane.
This problem exists due to many reasons. For one, they are too big to be dragged out of the house and too heavy to be transported.
Secondly, the available options are rather limited to local households, and the most common place to find unwanted mattresses is the landfill.
Last but not least, when the mattresses reach the landfill, they can cause problems for the waste stream as their gas emissions can be hazardous. Their large and heavy-duty frames can damage expensive equipment, and chemicals in some materials can leach out into surrounding soils and groundwater.
Landfills are limited spaces, and there is a finite amount of trash they can hold. Expanding landfills are threatening animal habitat and reducing households’ living spaces.
The burgeoning recycling industry has made it possible for mattresses to be better recycled and turned into something positive for the environment.