Recycling Hotel Mattresses: Save The Environment, Cut Costs

Hotel mattresses or mattresses used on any bed will not last forever. They need to be replaced on a consistent basis to offer guests a comfortable stay.

But what do hoteliers do with those old mattresses? A lot of them end up at the dump. According to the Mattress Recycling Council, more than 50,000 mattresses are dropped off at landfills every day.

“Getting rid of mattresses in a responsible way isn’t easy,” said Ryan Trainer, president of the International Sleep Products Association, in an interview with Bed Times.

“A growing number of landfills don’t want them, since they are bulky, hard to crush and can jam machinery,” Trainer said.

“There are third parties that will take or buy used bedding from retailers, but many of them are unscrupulous renovators, who often just sew a cover over a filthy used mattress, making no effort to properly sterilize the old bed or meet national fire safety standards, and then deceive consumers into thinking they are buying an all-new mattress.”

By recycling hotel mattresses, innkeepers can embrace a responsible solution that conserves resources. It’s a route the Hilton chain of hotels chose to take in 2012. Since 2015, the program has kept 1 million pounds of waste from landfills.

More than 95 percent of each mattress, box spring and bed frame Hilton replaces are turned into new products.

In late 2017, Hilton did a hotel-wide mattress recycling at its property at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, recycling 2,725 mattresses and box springs over the course of the month, diverting 187,230 pounds of waste from landfills.

According to USA Today, recycling hotel mattresses can yield new materials in a few different ways:

• Soft commodities like foam and fiber are compressed and turned into carpet padding, insulation, pet bedding, pillow and upholstery stuffing, mats and oil filters.
• Metal and box springs find their ways to scrap recyclers, who sell them to foundries and steel mills for use in tools, construction materials and car parts.
• Cotton can be recycled to make linen papers and oil spill containment.
• Wood is recycled and used to make flooring, wood pellets for biofuel, mulch, compost and pressed wood.

“You never know, you could be walking on flooring or sitting in a car made with parts of a mattress from a Hilton property you once stayed at,” Hilton executive Randy Gaines told USA Today.

As Janet Harrington of Global Sustainability Solutions notes, recycling hotel mattresses is good for the environment and for an innkeeper’s budget.

“Landfills are taking less and less, and their costs are increasing,” Harrington, Global Sustainability Solutions’ COO, said in a Lodging magazine piece last year. “It’s becoming cost-prohibitive to dump in landfills, so it’s simply less expensive to recycle.”

InnStyle has Hotel Mattresses for You

Is it time to replace the hotel mattresses at your property? InnStyle can help. They carry a number of different high-quality mattresses, including:

• Stearns and Foster Haraway™ Collection– Exceptionally well-crafted innerspring mattresses lead

  

  to exceptionally well-crafted online reviews. Treat your guests to the level of indulgent comfort that people write about. This mattress comes with antimicrobial knit fabric to protect against common allergens such as bacteria and mold. It also has chill™ technology to promote cool, comfortable sleep. There is a twice-tempered encased coil for durability, comfort, and support with minimal motion transfer. The mattress has copper air vents to promote breathability and allow for increased airflow and eight vertical handles for easy lifting. It comes with a ten year warranty. 

• Sealy Dunmore Collection™– This is part of the Sealy Innerspring Collection. It is available as either a Soft Tight Top or Soft Euro Pillow Top comfort layer option. This mattress has a twice-tempered open coil system with a coil count of 594. It comes with a 10 year warranty.
• Estate 5000 Cushion Firm Mattress– The Estate 5000 mattress has been consistently rated as a top choice nationally by the leading mattress buyers guide for five consecutive years. The mattress is designed using our proprietary Powercore 2 spring unit combined with Gold Certified Talalay latex. This blend guarantees a responsive yet deeply comfortable sleeping experience. Your guests will wake up feeling rejuvenated and well-rested, resulting in positive reviews and return stays.

Please Give InnStyle a Call

A lot of thought and questions can go into deciding what hotel mattresses are the best option for your property. InnStyle wants to make your process as simple as possible. They have a large selection of hotel mattresses available to make it an easier decision for which type is best for you. Please give InnStyle a call and speak with their account managers about any hotel mattress questions you may have. InnStyle can be reached at 267-354-6020 or 800-877-4667. Their website is https://www.innstyle.com/.