You Are No Longer Allowed to Throw Mattresses Out in Trash

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Starting November 1, Massachusetts residents are no longer allowed to throw mattresses out with the trash.

More than 600,000 mattresses and boxsprings are discarded annually in the commonwealth, according to mass.gov.

"They are expensive to transport, hard to compact, take up lots of landfill space, and can damage incinerator processing equipment. Yet mattresses are made up mostly of recyclable materials. Once disassembled, more than 75 percent of their components can be reused. This is better for the environment, the economy, and municipal waste management budgets," states mass.gov.

Not sure what you can do with your mattress?

Most furniture and mattress sellers will remove old mattresses for recycling and disposal when they deliver new mattresses.

Mattresses in good condition can be donated. MassDEP provides a Beyond the Bin Recycling Directory to find charities and organizations that accept them for reuse or recycling. But it doesn't list any in Boston.

In Boston, the city's website said they are encouraging "...you to work with a local private mattress recyclerdonate, or store your mattress until January 1st. If you are unable to do so, the City of Boston will continue to collect mattresses with curbside trash collection until January 1, 2023."

Then starting January 2020, Boston will require an appointment for collection of all mattresses and box springs. You you can schedule an appointment by calling 311.

Boston will accept memory foam, box springs, innerspring, hybrid, latex, and airbeds. But the city will not accept futons and other similar non-mattress items, as those items may be placed out for curbside trash collection.

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