How can I reuse or recycle old mattresses?

Old mattresses in a yellow skipA suggestion from the skip down the road:

“Hi, I’m the big yellow skip down the road that you keep eyeing up every time you walk past me. The people at the house next to me must be having a clear out or something but no, sorry, that cool chair that’s been in the garden for a couple of weeks isn’t in here: they must have taken it back into the house. You should so get the broken standing fan out though – the white metal bits that cover the blades will make good hanging baskets: come and see me tomorrow and I’ll make sure they’re waiting for you.

Anyway, the reason I’ve acquired an email address and developed some sort of fingerish appendages so I can type said email, is to check if you, or any of your dear readers, know what can be done with the two mattresses that are now nestled inside of me. You see, they’re quite knackered and a little manky so I doubt they’d be good enough to give away to actually sleep on but if anyone has any other suggestions, that would be great.

Thanks, love and hugs,
Skippy the Skip

PS. Call me!
PPS. Also, no asbestos.

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8 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle old mattresses?”


  1. Arnaud says:

    If they are foam mattresses, you could make a stone golem out of them…
    :)

  2. john says:

    If you have the patience to take apart a matress, you can get all kinds of good stuff from it.

    This article on stripping and reusing all the parts of a matress is amazing.

    Meters of string and braiding, buttons, lots of fabric (if stained, make mulch sacks from it), cotton waste (use it to keep your compost heap warm, or just compost it), coconut fibre (weed suppressing, worm attracting mulch), hessian, and then build a cat-proof wall from the springs! Go read the article.

  3. Emanla Eraton says:

    Put them in one corner and jump on them for stress relief. Once one is messed up from all the jumping, follow instructions in above comment.

  4. njtomboy says:

    Take apart ; use bedsprings to make bobbleheads, nodders and make-dos…

    Oh the springs are also great for holding wine bottles and votives

  5. nigel self says:

    I dont mind the way people get rid of them take them apart re use?so long as they do not fly tip them on the side of the road and expect some one else to get rid of their unwanted stuff.

  6. I think there was a couple in Australia that may have used wire from beds (they certainly used old rusty fencing wire) in their art work. Shades of Gray (or Grey). Pete and Shelley Gray (or Grey).
    Alison

  7. Steph says:

    There’s a great article here about taking apart a mattress for it’s component parts:

    http://www.users.on.net/~arachne/mattress.html

    Also here for British Prison Service recycling their mattresses:
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/26/recycling-prisons-and-probation

    I want local waste + recycling centres to start collecting mattresses to channel into a project like this.

  8. WARREN BOWES says:

    HOW CAN YOU RECYCLE HESSIAN OFF CUT STRIPS



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