Getting rid of an old mattress in the UK: council, take-back, recycling, and what not to do

A new mattress arrives and the old one is suddenly a problem: too big for the car, too heavy for one person, and not something the bin lorry takes. Here are the five ways to get rid of it, in order of least effort.

1. Have the new mattress's seller take it away

The easiest by a distance. Most retailers who deliver with a two-person team will collect the old mattress on the same visit for a fee, typically £20 to £40, and some include it. The old mattress goes to a recycling partner. Ask when you order, not on the day; the team needs to know to bring a bag.

Chapter takes the old mattress away for £30 on the delivery visit; it goes to recycling, never resale.

2. Council bulky waste collection

Every council runs a bulky waste service. Book online, pay per item or per set of items (typically £15 to £45 depending on the council; some offer a number of free collections a year), leave the mattress at the agreed spot on the day. Councils increasingly send mattresses for recycling rather than landfill, but not all; ask. The mattress usually has to be wrapped or dry.

3. Take it to the tip

Household waste recycling centres accept mattresses from residents, usually free, sometimes with a booking and sometimes with a limit per visit. You need a vehicle it fits in (a double folds in half into a large estate or a van; a king does not) and a second person. Check the site's rules; some now charge for mattresses because they are expensive to process.

4. A mattress recycling company

Specialist collection services will pick up a mattress from your home for £30 to £60 and take it to a recycling plant where the steel is recovered and the foam and fibres separated. This is the most certain route to actual recycling. Search for mattress recycling in your area; several national services exist.

5. Charity, if it is genuinely good

Furniture charities take mattresses only if they are clean, undamaged and still carry the permanent fire label, and many have stopped taking mattresses altogether because of the hygiene checks needed. A mattress you are replacing because it is worn out is not a donation. If it is a nearly new spare-room mattress, ring first.

What not to do

• Leave it by the bins or in the alley. It is fly-tipping, it will not be collected, and councils issue fixed penalties.
• Put it in a skip you have not paid for, or someone else's.
• Sell it as new. Reselling used mattresses without the fire label and without proper cleaning is illegal.
• Burn it. Foam and fire-retardant chemicals.

What happens to a recycled mattress

The mattress is cut open, the springs are pulled out and go to steel recycling, foam is shredded for carpet underlay and similar, fibres and fabric are separated for use as fuel or fibre products. Around three-quarters of a mattress by weight can be recovered when it goes to a proper facility, against nothing when it goes to landfill, where the springs make it almost impossible to compact.

Moving house

If you are moving, the removal firm will take a mattress to the tip for a fee, or you can book the council at the old address for the day before. Do not leave it for the buyers unless they have asked for it.

Timing it right

Book the disposal for the day the new mattress arrives, or the day after, not before: a night on the floor is not worth the tidiness. If the new mattress is delivered flat by two people, the same-visit collection is the obvious answer and the one that involves no lifting by you.

The short version

• Same-visit take-back from the seller is easiest; ask when you order.
• Council bulky waste or the tip are the cheap options; take a second person.
• A recycling collection is the most certain route to actual recycling.
• Never leave it by the bins.