Old mattresses don’t die they become part of the garden…..

I recently decided to do some shedding, which included getting rid of a 40 year old mattress… probably one I slept on as a kid.  Tried to sell it at a garage sale… no luck, tried to give it away … no luck.  That leaves hard waste and ultimately landfill, or does it?

With a little time, and a few tools it can be reduced to its basic elements and reused.  As it is old I am fairly confident the innards will be natural fibre and there for easy to deal with.  You will need a blade and pliers, and dress in old clothes it is a messy job … 40 years of dust and whatever else will be exposed!

Use the blade to remove the outer fabric.   Pull off the cotton batting.

Remove the coconut fibre/hession layer this will require the pliers to remove any staples.  It is worth the effort of getting all of these out if you are going to recycle this you don’t want potential sharp metal bits left lying around.

Whats left is:

Some perfectly good fabric which could make the next dog bed cover.

Coconut fibre, in my case with hession attached… could this be the next worm farm cover or some mulch or lining for some hanging pots.  A pile of cotton batting ….. great for composting or mulching.

And then there is the best bit, the wire base… you could take to a metal merchant and get a few dollars for or like me use it as fencing and maybe evne grow a climber over it … may be the next crop of beans or a pumpkin.  It will rust but that just adds to its charm.

And so my potential land fill mattress is reduced to a several handfuls of waste mainly old staples and some side handles.