No more funky, worn-out mattresses allowed in the Rock Springs landfill

The garbage collector no longer collects people’s used, stained, smelly or otherwise contaminated mattresses in Sweetwater County.

The Rock Springs Landfill won’t bury them anymore either. The used, gnarled, sweaty, unwanted giant coil and memory foam pillows simply take up too much space.

Instead, mattresses are sent to Utah for recycling rather than taking up space in a landfill in Wyoming. It is part of a long-term goal to save space and materials and has already exceeded expectations.

The disadvantage: it is up to the residents of the province to take their mattresses to the local return point themselves. And that’s what residents will have to do if they want to get rid of it.

Sweetwater County Solid Waste District No. 1 no longer buries mattresses in the landfill, and Wyoming Waste Systems – which collects waste in central and southern Wyoming – no longer collects them.

“We started on October 1 and we’ve already diverted 178 mattresses,” said Dan Chetterbock, general manager of the Rock Springs Landfill. “And we are already seeing the benefits.”

Too much filling

The new no-mattress policy was greenlit to save space and hassle at the Rock Springs Landfill.

“The idea behind the landfill is to pack everything in until there’s no more airspace,” said Michelle Foote, site manager for Wyoming Waste Systems in Rock Springs. “A mattress does not compact or decay. They don’t want them to end up in the landfill.”

Chetterbock said mattresses are especially problematic for the machines that continually compact the ever-growing layers of waste.

“I’ve seen mattresses wrapped around compactor wheels and machines broken,” he said. “Mattresses do not compact. We wanted to extend the life of the landfill and provide the community with another option to dispose of their mattresses.”

Spring back

Spring Back Recycling is a nonprofit organization with programs in Utah, Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee and Washington. It recycles or reuses up to 95% of mattress components for various purposes, reusing materials that would otherwise be wasted in landfills.

“We work with residents, municipalities, landfills and transfer stations to create as much landfill and waste diversion as possible,” said Peter Conway, president of Spring Back Colorado. “We remove the cotton, foam, steel and wood from each mattress and ship these materials to our recycling partners.”

Conway added that Spring Back Recycling employs “disenfranchised” people who are in drug and alcohol recovery centers, recently released from prison or “just trying to gain a foothold in society.”

“Responsible employment helps these people find stable employment, obtain long-term housing and become taxpaying members of society,” he said. “And in doing so, we ensure that millions of kilos of material are diverted from landfills every year.”

Same place, different destination

When a Sweetwater County resident wants to throw away a mattress, it still goes to the Rock Springs Landfill. It just doesn’t end up there.

Spring Back Utah places an empty Convex container at the landfill for people to drop off their mattresses. When it is full, usually about 60 to 70 mattresses, the container is transported to the recycling plant in Salt Lake City.

Storing the discarded mattresses keeps them in a good condition for recycling. That’s why Wyoming Waste Systems no longer throws them in the trash.

“The mattresses need to stay dry,” Foote said. “The company has to do certain things to them to make them reusable, or whatever they do to recycle them. The landfill is still accepting mattresses. We just don’t throw them in the trash when we pick it up.”

Share costs

Spring Back Recycling pays transportation companies to pick up and deliver the containers and charges these costs to its partners and customers. That means Sweetwater County pays to keep the landfill mattress free.

Chetterbock said the Sweetwater County Solid Waste District No. 1 mill levy covers the cost of transporting the mattresses from Rock Springs to Salt Lake City. However, residents outside the district do incur some additional costs.

“If you live in or are a resident of a district, there will be no cost to you,” he said. “These costs are included in the mill levy. We charge $35 per mattress for anyone outside of our district and for businesses within the district.”

The cost of transporting mattresses from the landfill is offset by the benefits of preventing mattresses from ending up inside. They don’t want landfills, and Spring Back Recycling is ready to take them.

Less space, better space

One month into the new mattress recycling program, Chetterbock is impressed with the results. Mattresses occasionally turn up in garbage trucks, but none end up in the landfill.

“We immediately see the benefits in the airspace,” he said. “Our software shows greater densification between what we had before and what we have now.”

Chetterbock expected Spring Back Utah to go to the Rock Springs Landfill once a month to pick up and replace the mattress container. Since October 1, they have already made three trips and are almost due for a fourth.

“It’s about better use of airspace and better use of mattresses,” he said. “I think it’s going very well and we’re happy with the results so far.”

Do it yourself (for now)

While the occasional mattress still ends up in a garbage truck, no mattresses go to the Rock Springs Landfill. The challenge for Sweetwater County residents is that they have to find their own way to get their mattresses there.

“Customers are asked to transport mattresses directly to the landfill,” she says. “All of our drivers have specific routes they travel every day, so we don’t have the manpower or time to pick up mattresses.”

Chetterbock said this hasn’t been a problem so far.

“Other than a few commercial loads and waste carriers’ bins, everyone who carries mattresses here has had no problem placing them where they need to go when they get here,” he said.

Cycling up

Sweetwater County isn’t the only community in Wyoming that has shown interest in mattress recycling. Conway said he has been approached by other communities in Wyoming to start their own mattress recycling programs.

“I told them if they could find a way to get them to us, we could definitely recycle them,” he said.

Andreas Rossi can be reached at [email protected].