How to properly dispose of an old mattress

With recent changes to furniture waste legislation, you might be wondering how to get rid of a mattress safely and legally.

The Environment Agency (EA) has established that certain furniture items are no longer suitable for skips and instead need to be handled separately before being taken to a specialist waste disposal site.

But do mattresses qualify as POPs waste? Can you throw them in a skip? Or do they need special treatment like sofas and armchairs?

Are mattresses classed as POPs waste?

After the EA ruled that all soft seating now falls into the category of POPs waste, you’d be forgiven for thinking that mattresses are in the same boat.

Mattresses are indeed soft and can be sat on, but they have not been classed as POPs waste. However, futons, which are commonly used for sleeping on like a mattress, do contain POPs and need to be treated as though they were regular sofas.

Other items that are not classified as POPs waste include deckchairs, curtains, blinds, beds and wooden or plastic seats without upholstery.

Can you put a mattress in a skip?

While mattresses aren’t classed as POPs waste, they can’t go into a skip either.

Mattresses are bulky items and it’s very hard to get one in a skip without it poking out over the maximum waste limit line so it can be safely collected.

And if you did manage to get it in, you’ll likely have contorted it in such a way as to not make the best use of the volume of your skip for the rest of your waste.

Mattresses are recyclable, but they need to be processed differently to general waste due to them needing to be stripped down to their individual materials.

SunSkips is happy to collect skips from any of the locations we serve across East Anglia for an additional fee (£12 each at the time of writing).

MORE: How to get rid of an old sofa the right way

Other ways to throw away a mattress

Chances are, you’re getting rid of an old mattress in order to make way for a brand new one. In that case, you may find that the delivery company is willing to clear out your old mattress for you for free when they drop off the new one (check terms and conditions before you buy).

If your mattress is in good enough condition, you might be able to make a few quid by selling it. Websites and apps like Facebook Marketplace or Wallapop might be a good place to start.

Failing that, local homeless charities may accept mattresses and might even arrange to have it collected from you.

MORE: The five Rs of waste management: Refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, recycle

Selling and donating things is a much more environmentally friendly solution than recycling because it keeps the same product in the circular economy with no processing necessary.

If you’ve got access to a big enough vehicle, you could also take your old mattress to a local HWRC and they’ll take it for free.

MORE: Skip hire vs recycling centre: The pros and cons

Give the friendly SunSkips team a call for help removing your mattress and save yourself the hassle of having to lug it down to the HWRC.