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Donate your old mattresses for a good cause
If your plans for Spring cleaning involve throwing away your old mattress, you may want to consider donating it to a good cause.
HOUSTON - If your plans for Spring cleaning involve throwing away your old mattress, you may want to consider donating it to a good cause.
It’s estimated that every year in Houston we discard about 750,000 mattresses. If you laid them down, that’s enough to go to Dallas and back twice. Since 2012 the Houston Furniture Bank has recycled over 77,000 mattresses, and they are asking you to help them recycle more.
“We are absolutely the best way to dispose of your mattress because if it is in good condition we will give it to a family in need, and if not, we will recycle it, and we will keep it out of our landfills,” says Claire Jarvis, Director of Communications at Houston Furniture Bank.
Last year, the Houston Furniture bank helped serve over 2000 families in need. The mattresses they give to their clients are of high quality. They are sanitized and steamed clean before they head to their new home. Chetkelia Greene, a former client, slept on the floor of her home for two years. She tells Fox 26 “It was rough my body aches a lot, and you know there are some nights where I cried, but you know I did what I had to do...and then I sat on the bed, and it was so comfortable, I was just like, I was almost in tears, I was trying to be strong for my kids, but they were crying, and I was just like oh my God. It was just amazing.”
Many of the mattresses that aren’t good to go homes will be repurposed.
Jarvis tells us “Last year we recycled 27,000 mattresses here at the Houston Furniture Bank, and 85% of the material that was in those mattresses was able to be recovered. We recycle metal, and we recycle foam, primarily. And the foam will be used for rug backing, It will be used for sports surfaces, and the metal will be broken down and then turned into any number of new items.“
Over 100 mattresses undergo this process every day. Houston Furniture Bank is hoping to increase that number.
You can help by donating your mattress. The drop off fee is $10, and the pickup fee is $25. The fees help with Houston Furniture Bank’s operations costs You can find more information about the Houston Furniture Bank here. https://houstonfurniturebank.org/