King Size Recycling are an exciting new business set up earlier this year (Feb 2021), having noticed it was becoming increasingly difficult to dispose of mattresses that had reached their end of life. They have worked in the waste industry for over 25 years and were seeing them stockpiled in waste facilities waiting to go to landfill or fly tipped at the side of roads, lying in gardens and lanes.

Their process follows the principles of a full circular economy. It involves hand stripping the mattress, layer by layer, and separating the materials which they bale and distribute into other industries who re-manufacture by the following processes:

• mattress foam is chipped and made into underlay and insulation
• polyester, shoddy, wool, and other insulators are sent to be needled, which is a cleaning process, and made into new rolls which can be used for stuffing, padding or flooring underlay
• wood is chipped for kitchen units, worktops, laminate flooring etc
• springs are scrap metal and the outer skins of a mattress can be shredded and used for biofuel, Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF), which has a high calorific value.

All mattresses must be dry because if they are wet or contaminated, they are unable to recycle them by the deconstruction method.

Mattress recycling is very successful in other countries and they hope to help lead Scotland into a nation who thinks carefully before throwing away their old bed. Ask yourself, “Can it be reused (family, friends, charity) or recycled?” If not, then for a small gate fee, King Size Recycling will ensure your old bed does not add to the landfill crisis, working towards a sustainable future.