ALMOST everything in a mattress can be recycled.
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So, charity organisation Muswellbrook Men’s Shed are working to keep the town beautiful by offering mattress recycling.
For a $15 donation, old mattresses can be dropped off at the Men’s Shed on Wednesdays, between 9am and 3pm.
Those who cannot make it to the group’s premises at 7-9 Industrial Close, can contact them to arrange pickup.
“When people think about recycling they typically think about separating paper, cardboard, cans and bottles from general garbage,” Muswellbrook Men’s Shed management consultant Dave Sorensen said.
“However, most people do not think about mattress recycling and how it can benefit the community.
“Discarded mattresses take up large amounts of room in landfill.
“In fact, a single mattress can take around 20 cubic feet of space and is among the most inefficient types of landfill and is more expensive for landfill operators to handle and process.
“Each year in Australia around 1.25 million mattresses end up in landfill.
“That’s just the ones that end up at the garbage depots, it does not take into account the ones that end up illegally dumped on the side of roads, in national parks and scrublands, in creeks, or other places in our community.”
The local group has been collecting mattresses that have been illegally dumped, and those that have been donated, and taking them back to their location to remove timber, fabric and metal from the bases.
“An average mattress contains 12.5kg of steel, 2kg of wood and 1.5kg of foam,” Mr Sorensen said.
The benefits of mattress recycling include saving space in landfills; creating jobs where recycling is an enterprise; reducing illegal mattress disposals; creates cleaner roadsides; recycling steel for construction; reducing instances of pests and vermin who use discarded mattresses as nests; using recycled foam, felt and wood for numerous uses; creating recycled chipped wood for mulch and recycled pelleted wood can be used for fuel.
It also saves ratepayers money in the long term; can generate income for recyclers; is a source of materials for building low-cost mattresses for vulnerable groups; creates more space in garages, or other personal storage areas; stops wasting valuable resources; and, creates a cleaner environment.
”The Muswellbrook Men’s Shed will continue to assist the Muswellbrook community with the provision of sustainable solutions that benefit our area and the environment,” Mr Sorensen said.
“Muswellbrook Men’s Shed is made up entirely of volunteers who give their time and resources to the community.
“We are not a service that runs daily, and as such, if you require a mattress collection contact the shed to arrange a pick up.
“We would also appreciate that no illegal dumping of mattresses occurring at the front of the Men’s Shed site in Industrial Close.
“Such actions would result in complaints from the community and jeopardise our operations.”
For further information, contact Muswellbrook Men’s Shed on 0411 361 028, find them on Facebook, or at mbkmenshed@outlook.com