Each year in Australia, about 1.6 to 1.8 million mattresses are sent to landfill, where each mattress takes up 0.75 cubic metres of space.
A trial underway in the Queensland town of Toowoomba aims to combat this by recycling parts of mattresses that would otherwise be discarded.
"We have about 5,000 mattresses across the Toowoomba region that are thrown away every year," Toowoomba Regional Councillor Nancy Sommerfield said.
"If we remove the steel, we can totally flatten what is left.
"Mattresses take up a lot of room, and we can now flatten it down to extend landfill capacity."
Cutting impact on landfill
The trial involves removing the steel springs so they can be melted and turned into appliances, building material or vehicle parts.
In just under two months, the Toowoomba Regional Council has recycled the springs of more than 620 mattresses.
"There's opportunity for the foam in a mattress to be recycled into things like boxing bags," Cr Sommerfield said.
Foam, wadding and latex from inside old mattresses is also being recycled into carpet underlay.
The trial will finish in January and then the full council will decide whether or not to make the project permanent.
"It will be assessed by the staff — cost has to come into it, the labour costs," Cr Sommerfield said.
"But I'll be surprised if we don't move forward with it to be honest, but it will depend on the outcome of the results."
The mattress recycling process is expected to divert at least 3,000 items from landfill per year when fully operational, if it gets the green light from council.
