City of San Diego offers free disposal of unwanted mattresses and box springs

Participation in MRC ‘Bye Bye Mattress’ program keeps bulky items out of the landfill

SAN DIEGO – Disposing of unwanted mattresses and box springs is now as easy as 1-2-3, and it’s free! As part of the City of San Diego’s participation in the Mattress Recycling Council’s (MRC) Bye Bye Mattress program, San Diegans can drop off mattresses and box springs at the city’s new collection site, located on the east side of the entrance to the Miramar Landfill on Convoy Street.

In addition to diverting bulky items from the landfill, the program also reduces illegal dumping and helps the city achieve its Zero Waste Plan goals. Hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday (the site is closed on Saturdays and Sundays). Mattresses and box springs must not be severely damaged, wet, twisted, frozen, soiled or infested with bedbugs. Assistance with unloading is available.

“The MRC Bye Bye Mattress program moves us another step closer toward our city’s goal of Zero Waste,” said Councilmember Joe LaCava, chair of the City of San Diego Environment Committee. “By introducing mattress recycling, we also continue our progress toward our climate action goals. This new program will benefit residents and strengthen our city’s sustainability objectives through waste reduction.”

“We are thrilled to announce our participation in MRC’s Bye Bye Mattress program,” said Matthew Cleary, assistant director of the Environmental Services Department for the City of San Diego. “By dropping off mattresses and box springs at our new collection site, residents are helping reduce waste, as the city collects these bulky items to be recycled instead of them ending up in the landfill, or worse, on the side of the road.”

ESD ensures City of San Diego residents have a clean and safe environment. The department pursues waste management strategies that emphasize waste reduction and recycling, composting and environmentally sound landfill management. ESD is also responsible for collecting and disposing of refuse, recyclables, household hazardous waste and green waste.

The MRC is a nonprofit organization created by the mattress industry that operates a mattress recycling program in states with mattress recycling laws.

“We’re thankful to the City of San Diego for joining our collection network and helping us make recycling used mattresses easier for residents,” said Mike O’Donnell, MRC’s Chief Operating Officer. “Together, this impressive network is collecting more than one million mattresses each year that are recycled right here in California.”

The MRC’s Bye Bye Mattress program is funded through a $10.50 recycling fee that is collected when a mattress or box spring is purchased in California. The fee is used to establish free drop-off locations and collection events throughout the state, and transport collected units from these sites to companies that dismantle the discarded products and recycle the materials. The materials are broken up into four main components (steel, foam, fibers and wood), which are used to make hundreds of new products such as carpet padding, construction rebar, insulation, filters and mulch.

For more information about recycling in San Diego, please visit RecyclingWorks.com. To learn more about mattress recycling, visit ByeByeMattress.com.

(City of San Diego Release)