{"id":800928,"date":"2019-11-01T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T18:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=373875"},"modified":"2019-11-01T12:00:44","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T18:00:44","slug":"ask-eartha-give-new-life-to-an-old-mattress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/ask-eartha-give-new-life-to-an-old-mattress\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask Eartha: Give new life to an old mattress"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dear Eartha,<\/em><\/p>\n

My 10-year-old mattress has lost its bounce. I\u2019m planning to replace it, but then what do I do? Does it end up in the landfill?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sydney, Breckenridge<\/em><\/p>\n

As of this week, free mattress recycling is available in
\nSummit County. Read on to learn how this program evolved and where to haul that
\nfloppy, old bed.<\/p>\n

The mattress conundrum<\/strong><\/p>\n

We all sleep on mattresses. Yet mattresses aren\u2019t designed
\nto last forever. Depending on several factors, including the quality and type
\nof mattress you buy as well as your sleep style and weight, most beds last
\nabout 8-10 years before the inner structure starts to wear out. Every year,
\nAmericans throw away nearly 20 million mattresses, most of which are either
\nlandfilled or incinerated.<\/p>\n

Before this week, getting rid of a mattress in Summit County
\nmeant hauling it to the landfill. But mattresses are not ideal landfill
\nmaterial. Remember, in a landfill, the goal is to compact the waste as much as
\npossible to preserve limited space. Mattresses, however, take up a lot of space
\nand are difficult to compress. In addition, if mattress springs break loose
\nfrom their cottony confines, they can jam landfill equipment. Safe to say,
\nmattresses are a nuisance.<\/p>\n

A handful of states have been building mattress recycling
\nprograms since the mid-2000s, but in Colorado, we didn\u2019t have an option for
\nmattress recycling until just a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Springing back to life<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enter Spring Back Colorado, a mattress recycler on the Front
\nRange. When it first opened in 2012, it could process about 50 mattresses a
\nmonth. Quickly, demand for mattress recycling grew, and the business received state
\ngrants to help it scale up and expand its service territory. Now, it can
\nrecycle 5,800 mattresses a month.<\/p>\n

A new partnership between Summit County and Spring Back
\nColorado means you can take your worn-out bed to the Summit County Resource
\nAllocation Park and recycle it for free. The mattresses will be transported to
\nDenver for processing.<\/p>\n

What are the details? Free mattress recycling is available
\nfor residents and businesses. Howto
\nrecycle depends on the number you have:<\/p>\n