What's the most environmentally friendly way to dispose of old mattresses?

Mattress designs have been perfected over the years, but they all contain several main components. Although the intricate assembly of a mattress makes it more difficult to recycle, once disassembled, mattresses are made up of materials that are very easy and lucrative to recycle.

Steel springs, a wood frame, stuffing and fabric with buttons -- all of these things can be recycled or reused. Steel in particular is a great material for recycling. The cost of recycling steel has decreased so much you could actually make money from melting down the steel springs and selling the resulting steel supply. Mattresses have anywhere from 300 to 600 steel coils depending on the size of mattress you have [source: Better Homes and Gardens]. The higher quality the mattress, the more coils it will have. If you own a high-quality king-size mattress, it would be a shame not to recycle it.

Additionally, the stuffing of a mattress, which is made up of cotton and foam, can be recycled or reused for stuffing pillows, reupholstering furniture, or even recycled and used in carpet padding. The wood frame can either be shredded and used as lawn mulch or disassembled and used for firewood or in carpentry word. Even the fabric and buttons can be reused, as long as the fabric has been cleaned. E­­­ven specialty mattresses like the Tempurpedic and memory foam can be recycled because they're made up of the same basic materials.

Box springs can also be recycled at recycling facilities where these bulky items are accepted. They are fed into a special machine where a specifically designed saw rips away the soft materials on the top and bottom, separating the mattress and box springs into its components. The springs are pulled away with magnets and the foam and cotton stuffing are grouped together and shredded for another use. With the right technology, a mattress can be recycled in just four minutes [source: The Christian Science Monitor]. We'll discuss the different options you have for recycling your old mattress on the next page.

Although recycling mattresses is a necessary and worthwhile task, it is not the easiest one to accomplish. While sustainability and green thinking have spread like wildfire, and recycling centers have popped up across the globe, there is still a shortage of centers that can recycle mattresses. Most recycling centers do not have the technology to recycle mattresses. Those that do generally charge a fee to accept your mattress and the majority of mattress recycling centers only deal with corporations, and don't allow the general public to donate their mattresses for recycling because the cost of receiving them one at a time is too high.

So what is a tree hugger with an extra mattress to do? First, search the Internet to see if there is a recycling center in your area that will allow you to drop off your mattress. Resources like Earth911.com and the International Sleep Products Associate can help you locate one in your area. Just make sure you call them to ensure they accept mattresses from the general public.

If a mattress recycling center in your area is not an option, there's always do-it-yourself recycling. If you're crafty, a carpenter, or know someone who is, you could disassemble a mattress and reuse the materials on your own. If you're looking for some extra cash, you might even try to sell the steel coils from your mattress to a junk yard or as scrap metal. You could also donate the stuffing and foam to a school's home economics class for a project. Additionally, check for second hand shops in your area that might buy old mattresses.

Finally, if you want to recycle your mattress with the least amount of effort, ask the retailer selling you your new mattress if they have a recycling program. They may already have a relationship with a mattress recycling center that disposes all of the old mattresses they haul away. Since everyone seems to be jumping on the green bandwagon, it's very likely that a retailer near you already has an established recycling program. Just call around and find out the details before your purchase your new mattress.