Supporting Sleep Well Recycling & Discovering the Surprising Afterlife of Mattresses
April 26, 2024
Sleep Well recycling, owned and operated by Josh Costa and his brother, is Vermont’s only mattress recycling center. This innovative company specializes in converting bulky mattresses and box springs into raw, recyclable materials. By properly recycling these items, Sleep Well recycling diverts them from the landfill, reducing the volume created by throwing them away whole. Located in the old North End, by the Intervale, the company offers locals convenient drop-off or pickup services for a small fee depending on the size of the mattress. Sleep Well recycling has partnered with numerous local businesses, landlords, property management companies, hotels/resorts, municipalities, and solid waste districts all while providing employment opportunities to those willing to help tackle the challenging task of disassembling old mattresses.
Alarmingly, approximately 50,000 mattresses are sent to landfills across the United Sates every day. Sleep Well Recycling, however, is making a significant impact by breaking down and recycling 10,000 mattresses annually. While only four states in the US have mandatory mattress recycling laws, Vermont is not one of them. Notably, Vermont has only one landfill serving the entire state! Recently, the Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD) decided to stop sending mattresses to the landfill, opting instead to collect and send them to Sleep Well while recycling for proper disposal. Costa is hoping to make more collaborations, such as CSWD’s, to increase his positive impacts.
While mattress recycling may seem like a dirty job, the process is remarkably efficient with 95% of the mattress being recyclable if disassembled correctly. Sleep Well Recycling meticulously handles this challenging process sending the foam components to New Jersey for carpet pad manufacturing, the wood components to Burlington Electric Department’s McNeil Generating Station to be burned as fuel, and the steel components to All Materials Recycling Center in Williston.
Josh Costa, the founder of Sleep Well Recycling, established the company in 2020. Previously, he worked separating electronics and later joined 1-800-GOT-JUNK throughout his college years, where he studied marketing. Josh’s interest in problem solving waste issues and finding ways to reduce landfill sizes through proper recycling led him to focus on mattresses, which contribute significantly to landfill volumes yet are largely recyclable. When launching his business with his brother, a local luxury resort provided them with 900 mattresses, offering a significant financial boost to get Sleep Well Recycling off the ground. His ultimate goal is to recycle every discarded mattress in New England in the near future! Lucky for Josh, he admits to finding the deconstruction process to be a therapeutic form of stress relief. Additionally, when speaking with Josh, you can tell he has a passion for recycling these landfill nuisance items, and his energy is incredibly chill and positive!
We are thankful that Sleep Well Recycling is filling this important need in our community. This April being Earth Month, Burlington Mattress gives a big shout out to Sleep Well Recycling for having found a business model that allows them to provide this critical need for our community without any help from the state or local government. We would like to help change that by bringing awareness to Josh’s efforts! You can Rest Assured that when you buy a new mattress, your old one will be recycled when you shop with us. Additionally, if you ever need to dispose of a mattress, you can conveniently drop it off at a Sleep Well Recycling or schedule a low cost pickup!
