Mattress recycling program reports success in first year, looks to grow in second

In 2025, a new Oregon-based mattress recycling program, called Bye Bye Mattress, prevented 130,000 old mattresses and box springs from ending up in landfills or elsewhere statewide. 

The Oregon program, created by the Mattress Recycling Council, was launched Jan. 1, 2025. It was the first expansion of the program since it began in 2015 in California and Connecticut, and then added Rhode Island in 2016.

This program is funded completely through a stewardship fee that was introduced in Senate Bill 1576 in 2022. This $22.50 fee is added onto every mattress or box spring sold in Oregon.

“That money that comes in is used to recycle all mattresses,” said Mike O’Donnell, chief operating officer for the Mattress Recycling Council. “Both the mattress that you buy today, which you can recycle in the future, and all of the legacy mattresses that are out there in Oregon. That fee is going to fund the collection, transportation and recycling of all of them.”

The fee was introduced to help address illegal mattress dumping. 

Justine Falon, the vice president of operations for the council, says it’s too early to track how Bye Bye Mattress has affected illegal mattress dumping in Oregon.

“We’re working on doing a census this year to gather data to see what people have in terms of numbers and what they know about illegal dumping,” Falon said. “Then we’ll have a baseline number so we can do projects, and pilot studies that we fund, where people can try different cleanup tactics to see if it decreases (mattress) dumping.”

According to a June 25 press release from Bye Bye Mattress, nearly 90,000 units were dropped off by individuals at collection sites and events and the other 40,000 were donated by businesses that deal with bulk quantities of mattresses, such as schools, mattress stores and hotels.

“We’re still in our aggressive growth phase,” O’Donnell said. “We’re targeting over 200,000 units in 2026, a 50% growth in our second year. We’re actively looking for more mattresses.”

There are 34 collection sites in Oregon, 12 of which are in Lane County. 

Bye Bye Mattress has partnered with St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, Environmentally Conscious Recycling in Portland and Klamath Works in Klamath Falls in order to recycle mattresses.

Although the Mattress Recycling Council does not offer mattress pickup services, St. Vincent De Paul does, for a fee.

“St. Vinnie’s does pickup, but there is a fee, because that means we’re sending out two staff members and a truck,” said Bethany Cartledge, the executive director of Saint Vincent de Paul of Lane County. “But people can bring them to any St. Vinnie’s location, even with our out-of-town stores, like Cottage Grove and The Dalles.”

O’Donnell said that in 2026 Bye Bye Mattress is hosting 70 collection events to give people in rural communities a chance to recycle their mattresses.

According to the council, up to 75% of mattress material can be recycled. This is done by separating mattress components into steel, foam, fibers and wood so that other industries can use them to make new steel products, carpet padding insulation or as biomass fuel. 

Chris Rabenberg is a machine operator at the St. Vincent de Paul warehouse on Prairie Road.

“We shear off all the metal, send the wood right there for biomass fuel at Lane Forest Products, and compress the springs into bales we ship to Pacific Recycling.” Rabenberg said. “We also bale up mattress tops and send them to the same place we send mattress foam.”

O’Donnell also said that Bye Bye Mattress is a good way to save mattresses from the landfill, but the best thing one can do is purchase a quality mattress. 

“One of the things that we want to emphasize is that you should buy a good mattress, go to your local mattress retailer, buy a mattress that was made in the Northwest, that lasts a long time.” he said. “Don’t buy a lousy mattress that you’ll need to recycle in a couple years.”

List of collection sites

Cottage Grove

• St. Vincent de Paul, Cottage Grove Thrift Store, 910 Row River Road

Eugene

• Glenwood Central Receiving Station, 3100 E. 17th Ave.
• St. Vincent de Paul Chad Drive Store, 2890 Chad Drive
• St. Vincent de Paul Division Store, 201 Division Ave.
• St. Vincent de Paul Garfield Store, 888 Garfield St.
• St. Vincent de Paul Prairie Road (Eugene headquarters and recycling facility,) 1770 Prairie Road
• St. Vincent de Paul Seneca Store, 705 Seneca Road
• St. Vincent de Paul West Eugene Store, 2167 W. 11th Ave.

Florence

• St. Vincent de Paul Florence Thrift Store, 2315 Highway 101

Junction City

• St. Vincent de Paul Junction City Store, 333 Ivy St.

Springfield

• St. Vincent de Paul Q Street Store, 199 Q St.
• St. Vincent de Paul Main Street Store, 4555 Main St.