The new program allows consumers to drop off old mattresses and box springs for free. There are currently four locations around the metro area that participate.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Getting rid of furniture isn’t easy, especially if it’s big and bulky like a mattress or box spring. Well, guess what? Thanks to a new program, it’s easy and free — that is, if you can get it to the dump.
At the Metro Central Transfer Station in Northwest Portland, you can, of course, get rid of all of your garbage and trash, but now, this is one spot you can go to have your old mattress recycled.
In 2022, Oregon lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1576, which created a statewide framework for recycling mattresses and box springs all over the state. The hardest part of the program is getting it to the Metro Central Transfer Station.
Old mattresses take up a lot of space in landfills, and there’s lots of good stuff we can get out of the mattresses, said Mike O’Donnell, chief operating officer with Mattress Recycling Council.
Here’s how it works: Once a mattress gets dropped off at the transfer station, every piece gets separated to be reused.
“[The mattress and the box spring] come in, and they separate the two; the steel goes off to scrap steel market and the wood goes off to compost or mulch,” explained O’Donnell.
He said that the Mattress Recycling Council, the company that collects the mattresses, the cost to fund the program comes from a $22.50 fee you pay when you first purchase a mattress or a box spring. The money from that goes to fund the collection sites.
O’Donnell said he’s just getting started in Oregon, and he plans on expanding and hopes to find more locations.
There’s a total of four locations where you can drop off old mattresses and box springs right now: the Metro Central Transfer Station, Community Warehouse, Pride Recycling and Environmental Conscious Recycling.