“If it’s over 8, it’s time to replace.” What is it you should replace every 8 years? You use it every day; it is one of the best things you can invest in, because it can make the difference between a good night sleep, or a rough night of tossing and turning. It’s your mattress of course. Roughly every 8 years, consumers should replace their old mattress, so when it comes time to get a new one that means it’s time to talk to the mattress salesman. These guardians of your sleep setting do more than just have you lay on dozens of different style beddings; it’s what happens when they deliver your new feather bed that they do an awesome job of taking your old mattress, and prove that they too are garbage men.
An old mattress can occupy 40 cubic feet or more in a landfill, mattresses are an perfect candidate for recycling. Although 80 percent of the components can be recycled, not everyone makes the effort. Mattress salesmen make this effort and more. What you may not know is that by purchasing a new mattress included in the price is a recycling fee; this fee that each salesperson includes in your purchase ensures that these items make it to a recycling center. There, steel springs can be melted down and used in building materials or other steel products. Springy foam is used to make carpet padding or animal beds. Cotton can be reused in oil filters and textiles. Wood from the box spring is shredded into mulch products or repressed furniture. In some cases when buildings such as hotels get renovated, some of those mattresses also get refurbished and donated to local shelters or low income households and give families a place to lay their heads at night, other than the floor.
Look at the tag on your mattress the next time you go to bed and check the year it’s made, because after 8 years, you should change out your mattress. When you go shopping be sure to look at the salesperson at the bedding store and think of him as a garbage man too. They not only ensure a good night sleep with the best mattress, but they help eliminate the items that go to landfills by recycling.