Connecticut introduced the country's first-ever mattress recycling program in 2015.
The legislation tacks a $9.00 fee at point of purchase to cover the cost of recycling old mattresses. Now over a year into the program, mattress collection sites have been popping up at transfer stations and recycling yards all over the state.
"Our goal was to have 88 sites participating in the first two years of the program," said Justine Fallon, New England Program Coordinator for the Mattress Recycling Council, the non-profit running the state's recycling program. "Since the program started, we've exceeded that goal and we have a 101 physical locations where residents can go."
Those looking to recycle an old mattress can find the collection spot nearest to them by going to the group's website, Bye Bye Mattress, which also lists the towns doing curbside pickup.
"In the first year of the program our recyclers have received 150,000 mattresses from Connecticut sources," Fallon said.
Fallon said she's also reaching out to health care facilities, college campuses, and the lodging industry to collect old mattresses.
But her group decided it won't recycle mattresses from prisons. According to a report submitted this month, that's due to fire and security considerations --that make the products "either contaminated or manufactured with unrecyclable components."
