Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Living Well

Candace Carrie

The recycling of plastics, glass, aluminum, grass clippings and paper is ranked right up there with patriotism, Mom and apple pie. It's the right thing to do. People who don't recycle are looked down on as polluters who don't care about Mother Earth.

Many products can and should be recycled, but old mattresses do not fall into that category. If a mattress is 8 to 10 years old, it's probably past its prime and should be thrown away for good, not passed on to children or others.

Disposing of a mattress after 8 to 10 years is a rule of thumb recommendation from the bedding industry. Bed springs can suffer from metal fatigue, and mattress padding can lose resiliency.

Many consumers give little thought to their mattress until it becomes so uncomfortable, dirty or both, that they can no longer ignore the problem. Because people don't see the mattress it's always covered by pad, sheets, blankets and spreads they don't think about replacing it.

It won't be easy for Americans to bread the cycle of recycling we hate to get rid of our old mattresses. Statistics show that the mean age of a household mattress is 11.3 years, but a retention time of 15-25 years is not unusual.

Of the bedding that is being replaced, studies show that less than 25 percent is actually disposed of properly. Usually, it gets passed on to others, complete with lumps, bumps, sags and years of accumulated dirt.

There are many reasons to get rid of an old mattress, including problems with sagging, stains and dust content. Health-related problems such as backaches, poor posture and loss of sleep that can result from sleeping on an old mattress are other reasons to get rid of old mattresses. When a mattress has outlived its usefulness, it should be disposed of.

There is one potentially life-threatening reason to dispose of a very old mattress. If the mattress was purchased before 1973, it could be highly flammable. Mattresses manufactured after 1973 must conform to federal standards of flame retardation.

Once you decided to get rid of a mattress, the best way to ensure proper disposal is for the retailer to haul away the old mattress when the new one is delivered.

Some Salvation Army and homeless shelters will accept old mattresses for reconditioning and some companies deal in recycling old mattress components.

Appropriate recycling is to be commended; recycling of old mattresses for extended use is not. Don't just pass an old mattress on to someone else. If it isn't good enough for you, if isn't good enough for anyone.