While you're not quite sleeping on a fortune, did you know it's possible to make some spare cash from your old mattress? Most components of a mattress can be recycled, and with a bit of effort you can separate these components yourself. So how exactly can you make money from this?
Taking the Mattress Apart
First of all, you need to take your mattress apart. This can be messy, so it's best to do it in your garage. Don't do it outside, where small pieces of mattress foam can blow into your garden where they might be eaten by native wildlife. It's not so complicated to do, and you just need a seam ripper (or a strong pair of scissors), a pair of pliers, and a heavy duty rubbish bag to collect the mattress foam as you pull it out. Once the mattress covering has been removed (using the seam ripper or the scissors) and the foam has been torn out, you will have exposed the mattress springs. These should be extracted and set aside. They can be cut into smaller pieces with wire cutters or left intact. You will also be left with the wooden frame, which can be taken apart with your pliers.
The Wood
You might want to keep the wooden components of your mattress to use for any craft projects that you might wish to do. Or you can bundle them up and take them to a recycling centre along with the mattress foam and covering.
The Mattress Foam and Covering
The recycling centre will collect your mattress foam, which will be processed and used to create a number of different products, such as foam underlay for carpets. The mattress cover will also be recycled. The recycling centre can certainly collect the mattress springs, but in order to make money from your old mattress, you will need to take them to a scrap metal dealer.
The Mattress Springs
While you won't receive any remuneration from the wood or the foam, there can be some cash in the mattress springs. The average mattress contains 12.5 kilograms of steel, and you are simply selling this to a scrap metal dealer for the best possible price. It's nice to make a bit of extra cash from your mattress, and the other components of the mattress will be recycled, ensuring that they will not end up in a rubbish dump.
If you don't wish to go to the effort of extracting the springs and separating all the other components of your old mattress, remember that you can simply call a mattress recycling company. While your mattress will still be put to good use, you won't receive any cash from its most valuable components. In fact, you will generally need to pay them for the service.
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