Americans throw away 50,000 mattresses daily; Oregon recovered 5.9 million pounds of recyclable items in one year

An old mattress can look like nothing more than a bulky piece of household waste once it reaches the end of its life. In Oregon, however, more than 134,000 mattresses and box springs collected in a single year were given a different destination: recycling, reuse or other forms of material recovery. The figure comes from the first full year of Oregon’s statewide mattress recycling programme, which is designed to keep unwanted mattresses out of landfills and reduce illegal dumping. Read on to find more details.

More Than 134,000 Mattresses Collected

Oregon’s programme collected more than 134,000 mattresses and box springs during 2025, according to the Mattress Recycling Council’s annual report. In total, about 5.9 million pounds of material was reused, recycled or used as biomass fuel. The results followed the launch of Oregon’s statewide mattress stewardship programme in January 2025.

The Mattress Recycling Council, which operates the programme through its Bye Bye Mattress initiative, said around 90,000 mattresses were brought in by individuals at collection sites and events. Another roughly 40,000 came from businesses dealing with mattresses in larger quantities. Those businesses included mattress retailers, hotels, schools and junk-removal companies, according to Home Textiles Today.

What Happens To An Old Mattress?

A mattress is made up of several materials that can be recovered instead of simply being buried in a landfill. The recycling process can separate components such as steel, foam, wood and fibres. Depending on their condition, some mattresses can also be renovated or reused rather than completely broken down.

The Mattress Recycling Council said more than 2,000 of the mattresses collected in Oregon during 2025 were donated for reuse or renovation. That means the programme is not simply about moving waste from one place to another. It creates opportunities to recover materials that can continue to be useful after their original purpose has ended.

Why Oregon Created The Programme

Oregon became the fourth US state to establish a statewide mattress recycling law when lawmakers approved Senate Bill 1576 in 2022. The programme officially began on January 1, 2025. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality says the law uses an extended producer responsibility model, requiring mattress manufacturers to help establish and fund a system for collecting and managing unwanted mattresses.

The programme also aims to make disposal more convenient for residents, reduce illegal dumping and support jobs in the recycling sector. Consumers help fund the system through a $22.50 assessment fee charged when eligible mattresses or box springs are purchased in Oregon.

The Scale Of The Waste Problem

The Mattress Recycling Council said that if the more than 130,000 mattresses collected during the programme's first full year were stacked one on top of another, they would reach the height of 10 Mount Hoods. Placed end to end, they would stretch roughly from Eugene to Medford or from Portland to Bend. The comparison puts the scale of the collection effort into perspective.

Instead of hundreds of thousands of bulky mattresses potentially occupying landfill space or being illegally dumped, Oregon has created a system where residents and businesses have designated ways to get rid of them.

A Model For Tackling Hard-To-Recycle Waste

Mattresses are particularly challenging to dispose of because of their size and mixture of materials. Oregon’s approach is an attempt to make recycling part of the product’s life cycle rather than leaving disposal entirely to consumers. The state Department of Environmental Quality says mattresses collected through the programme are processed for renovation, reuse or recycling, as appropriate. The first-year figures suggest that thousands of tonnes of material can be redirected when collection becomes accessible and organised.

Oregon's mattress programme is still relatively new, but its first full year has already produced a striking result: more than 134,000 unwanted mattresses kept within a system designed to recover value from them. For something usually associated with household waste, those old mattresses are proving that the end of a product's useful life does not necessarily have to mean the end of its usefulness.