bostondotcom OP t1_iumoanq wrote
If you’re thinking of getting rid of your old mattress or throwing out some ripped or stained clothing, starting Tuesday, you can no longer put them in the trash.
Beginning Nov. 1, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is expanding its waste bans to include mattresses, clothing, towels, bedding, and other textiles. This means they will need to be repurposed, reused, or recycled.
Banned items will now include bedding, clothing, curtains, fabric, footwear, towels, and similar items. Textiles containing mold, bodily fluids, insects, oil, or hazardous substances are exempt from the ban.
All sizes of mattresses are included in the ban, but notably, the mattress ban does not include mattress pads and toppers, sleeping bags, pillows, car beds, strollers, playpens, infant carriers, waterbeds, air mattresses, and mattresses from futons and sofa beds.
Why the ban is in place
According to MassDEP, Massachusetts residents and businesses dispose of approximately 230,000 tons of textiles each year. These materials account for about 5% of the waste that makes it to incinerators and landfills.
Mattresses pose a similar problem. More than 600,000 mattresses and box springs are thrown away each year in Massachusetts. And according to MassDEP, they are expensive to transport, hard to compact, take up lots of landfill space, and can damage incinerator processing equipment.
This need not be the case. MassDEP said about 85% of disposed textiles could be donated, reused, or recycled, while more than 75% of mattress components can be reused or recycled.
There are both environmental and economic benefits to recycling or donating mattresses and textiles, MassDEP said.
Massachusetts has many businesses that sort, reuse, upcycle, or convert used textiles into new products. It also has many charities and businesses that resell clothes, mattresses, and other textiles. So, MassDEP said, donating helps keep these local businesses afloat.
Keeping used textiles out of the trash is also beneficial for municipalities, businesses, and residents who can then spend less on waste disposal, MassDEP said.
Recycling fibers also saves natural resources and reduces carbon emissions by using existing materials instead of creating more, according to the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles (SMART) Association.
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