Ban on throwing away mattresses, textiles starts Tuesday in Massachusetts
BOSTON - New limits on what Massachusetts residents can throw away in the trash are taking effect soon.
Starting November 1, the state will not allow mattresses and textiles to be disposed. People will have to find a way to recycle or donate those items instead.
More than 600,000 mattresses and box springs are thrown away every year in Massachusetts.
Read: Mattress Recycling Guide
"They are expensive to transport, hard to compact, take up lots of landfill space, and can damage incinerator processing equipment," the Department of Environmental Protection says. "Yet mattresses are made up mostly of recyclable materials."
The department says more than 75% of a mattress is recyclable and can be turned into anything from mulch to animal bed paddding.
So for those who will be looking to get rid of their old mattress, the state encourages consumers to use the Beyond the Bin Recycling Directory to find an organization that will accept it, or check and see if their community has its own program. Click here for a list of cities and towns with a subsidized recycling program. Private companies will also recycle mattresses for a fee.
As for textiles, a state FAQ on the new waste ban says it includes "clothing, footwear, bedding, towels, curtains, fabric, and similar products, except for textiles that are contaminated with mold, bodily fluids, insects, oil, or hazardous substances."
The Department of Environmental Protection says 85% of textiles being thrown away right now could be "donated, reused or recycled instead."
The bans are part of a goal to reduce disposal statewide by 30% over the next decade. When it comes to making sure the new rules are followed, the department says it "generally does not issue waste ban enforcement to individuals, and instead typically issues enforcement to businesses and institutions (including municipalities) as well as waste haulers."
