(WSB photos/interview by Ellen Cedergreen)
Got a mattress you don’t need any more and can’t find anyone to take? Your solution may lie with Matt Althauser, who recently opened Bed Be Gone, a mattress-recycling company, based at ActivSpace on Harbor Avenue north of the West Seattle Bridge. He’s been a man of many potential-startup ideas over the years, but this one just made sense: “I started researching and realized there’s nobody doing it for individuals in Seattle, so I thought it’d be a great service and it’s a pretty straightforward business model.” How does it work? Read on!
For $50, Matt will come pick up your mattress/box spring. Or you can drop it off and pay $20 for one set, $15 each if you’re dropping off more than one mattress/box spring. (Pricing and other info is on his website.)
What happens from there? Matt stores and takes apart the mattresses. This video’s from his website:
The metal springs will go to a scrapyard, to be eventually made into new steel. Matt says when he gets enough material, he’ll actually be able to turn a profit on it. Cotton batting can be treated and cleaned, and Matt is currently looking for a local processor: “It’d be great if we could make clothes out of it someday,” he says. Polyurethane is sent to Kent, and processed by Pacific Urethane, the same source you’ll see at “What Do I Do With?-King County. Matt is most excited by the idea of repurposing, and is casting around for ideas for the wood that houses the springs. He’d like to see it go toward building raised garden beds for urban farms, but will settle for using the green-waste recycling bin if he has to. The mattress casing is usually synthetic and not recyclable – so Matt’s come up with some ideas, including these tote bags (his mom just taught him how to sew):
In addition to dealing directly with individual would-be recyclers – he says he’ll take any mattress/box spring – Matt’s hoping for plenty of partnerships. Right now, he says, he’s partnered with Fremont-based natural-bed company Soaring Heart to dispose of customers’ old beds after a new purchase is made at the store. He’s hoping to join up with hotels, hospitals, and moving companies and is getting the word out via social networks including Facebook (where you’ll find Bed Be Gone here).
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