How to Lay Some Misconceptions About Mattress Recycling to Rest in 1 1/2 Minutes
With increasing concern over our throw-away culture, many have asked what happens to those old mattresses seen left on the street, and if there is any way to keep them from being landfilled or incinerated with toxic consequences. According to Greg Conigliaro, founder of Conigliaro Industries, a versatile recycling company in Framingham, Massachusetts, a mattress is one of the most difficult products to recycle due to its complex multi-material structure. In spite of this, in 2002, the company became the first commercial mattress recycler in the country, and won a $10,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for their solution. The minute-and-a-half process involves feeding a mattress through a large-scale “shredder”, which breaks it apart and allows it to be magnetically separated into its individual parts, (foam, cotton, wood, and steel) for resale as raw materials. Conigliaro’s website claims that they annually process over 3000 tons of such material, “enough mattresses to fill 900 tractor trailers.”
(Image courtesy of Conigliaro Industries)
Please visit Conigliaro Industries for more information.
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on September 25th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I know that steel is recyclable but what do they do with the foam?
Is the foam sanitized and re-sold? What is it sanitized with? Who do they re-sell it to?
on November 21st, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Recycled foam is sanitized. Not sure how they go about it. Can’t imagine the people companies doing this are concern with health so i can imagine the chemicals used.
It’s either used shredded/loose in pillows etc.
The other method is spraying the shredded pieced with glue and pressing it all together. Kinda like the pressboard of foams. Not too healthy either.