apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Noticed how "Tie it to a piece of old furniture and dip the whole thing in a vat of brightly colored rubberized paint, then sell as "Art" was never mentioned...

Nor was "dump it off on your neighbor's neatly manicured lawn".

Where I live, people just throw in a stream or an alley.

FREECYCLE!
Google it!
You'll never throw anything that is still useful but not necessarily worth selling away ever again!

I would NEVER buy a used mattress!!! I'm not saying you have bedbugs, dust mites, or sloughed off skins cells but even the nicest people do. I was watching an episode of Verminators on Discovery and there was a girl who got a bunch of "great" furniture and a almost new bed from Craigslist. All of it was INFESTED with bedbugs. Ugh. Recycle the components of a bed? Yes. Recycle the bed as a bed? No way.

I'm certainly interested in hearing more about this recycling plant in MD once it opens- I hope we get updates!

I wouldn't buy a used mattress either, but it seems like Colleen gave it away to a family in need who obviously thought the benefit outweighed the risk. I think the message of the post is don't just let the mattress delivery folks haul away your old mattress if you can keep it out of a landfill instead.

I like freecycle as well, but have had more success with Craigslist because I live in a building and can't just leave stuff out by the curb or on a porch, and Craigslisters seem better about making and keeping appointments. Either way, giving stuff to people who want it is better than dumping it into a landfill...

I live in So Cal near the US-Mexico border and I always see pick-up trucks loaded up with old mattresses like a Dr. Seuss illustration, heading south. I can only imagine their fate...either they go to needy families in Tijuana OR they are re-covering them with a new cloth and then selling them as New at the mattress discount shops back here in the US. I saw an expose on the many years ago....so I'm not just being germy-phobic paranoid.

LilyC - it's lucky that you're financially fortunate enough to NEVER have to buy a used mattress. Obviously for the family who came to collect it, having a bed to sleep in without having to spend a lot of money for a new one was more important than the risk of bedbugs.
(My family will pass on unwanted furniture around to the cousins in college, etc, and I've never heard of bedbugs being a problem. Maybe it's not as gross when you're getting it from someone you know?)

I found a mattress company Magniflex who makes 100% recyclable mattresses made of resources like bamboo, soy, algae, and Corn. I first found them in Thom Filicia's model apartment in The River House in Battery Park where he used their Eco-Bamboo mattresses. I researched and found the only place they are available is at Casa Poggesi at 59 Crosby Street, NY, NY 10012. I purchased the Sea Cell Emotion made out of Sea Algae with memory foam made out of ALOE!! It's SOOO NICE! I walked by yesterday and it looks like they are having a sample sale on the mattresses right now. http://www.magniflex.us http://www.furnituretoday.com/article/CA6526485.html

When we bought our house, we had no money left over for a bed and bought a used king-sized mattress for $50. It's awesome and because it was so cheap we let the kids jump on it to their hearts' content.

I was worried about bugs - we bought it in Jan in the northeast and I thought that maybe if we left it out in the freezing weather for a couple of days if it would kill anything that might be living in it. We didn't actually have the opportunity to do that, fortunately it wasn't a problem.

There are lots of chemicals used in the manufacture of mattresses like fire retardants - and I imagine that a used mattress would be releasing less of those chemicals than a brand new one. But that's a completely unscientific musing.

Other people's skin cells? Well that's what sheets are for - it's not any different from staying in a hotel.

It's great to hear about mattress recycling, I've often wondered what our mattresses' fate would be when we are done with it.

I bought a used bed once in the mid-90s, and had no problems... BUT, since I encountered bedbugs in (expensive) rented furniture in 2004, I now take the issue seriously. I really don't think mattresses or bedroom furniture should be passed around. Bedbugs are just too hard to get rid of, and some one else in my building who doesn't mind a mattress of questionable origin can create an intolerable problem for me.

I recently took my used mattress to my mom's house to await pickup by the city trash pickup (you have to call and make an appt. for them to pick up anything too big to put in one of their issued trash containers). Somebody took it during the night. And you know what? I'm not going to judge them. Mattresses are expensive and what with gas and food prices climbing, I'm glad someone got it for free.

not everyone can afford to buy a brand new matress. When you go to a hotel you sleep in a bed where HUNDREDS of people have slept. A used matress is usually one or two people.