It’s a familiar, costly headache: Monday morning, post-move-out weekend, and your staff is buried in illegally dumped mattresses – in empty apartments, hallways, and next to the dumpster.
What if you could eliminate this nightmare, saving your team time and cutting disposal costs?
The Mattress Recycling Council (MRC) and our Bye Bye Mattress program offer a free solution for California property managers to address current disposal problems and prevent future dumping.
All these mattresses can be recycled!
Since 2015, MRC’s Bye Bye Mattress program has successfully recycled 15 million mattresses and diverted 575 million pounds of good, usable materials from the waste stream. Our California program alone has recycled more than 13 million mattresses.
By partnering with us, you keep mattresses out of your property’s common areas and landfills, leading to cleaner properties and happier tenants.
After the Fact
The Bye Bye Mattress program is designed to make mattress recycling a breeze for apartment owners and property managers. It’s a straightforward, no-cost solution to a common problem.
- Property managers with 10 units or fewer can drop off these items at a nearby collection site that accepts commercial units. Find a nearby locator on ByeByeMattress.com.
- There are more than 240 mattress collection sites around California. In most cases, no one needs to travel more than 15 miles to the nearest site – but most communities in the state are much closer to one of these drop-off locations.
- Property managers with larger loads or those interested in hosting a collection event for the complexes they manage should contact their local MRC program coordinator to discuss options. More information is available at: www.byebyemattress.com/ca-multi-family-housing/.
Preventative Action
The goal is simple: ensure your tenants know how to recycle their old mattresses for free.
Any California resident can recycle an old mattress – for free – at their nearest collection site. Visit ByeByeMattress.com to find nearby locations and their hours of operation. These are drop-off locations. MRC does not provide pickup services.
The Challenge: Inform Your Residents of this Free Service
Rental properties tend to experience more illegal dumping due to high tenant turnover and a lack of on-site property management. The high turnover necessitates continual ongoing, direct education on the proper way to dispose of or recycle mattresses, as well as the consequences of illegal dumping.
Over the last several years, MRC has collaborated with several California cities, including Berkeley, San Jose, Palmdale, and Daly City, to explore various approaches to reduce illegal dumping in neighborhoods with numerous apartment complexes. The most successful tool has been improved communication.
In each of these communities, property managers serve as the vital link, raising awareness and informing residents about their recycling options. Your high-impact touch points include Welcome Packets, Move-Out Guides, and community pickup events.
Stay Informed and Involved
Property managers are the critical link between city services and residents. Public works and waste haulers depend on you to ensure important updates reach your residents. They can’t communicate directly with tenants without your help – whether by opening the door or passing along information. By staying engaged, you strengthen this partnership and improve service for your residents.
- Start by asking your local public works, recycling department, or waste hauler for educational materials. Many offer practical tools, such as refrigerator magnets or guides on proper disposal. Consider including these resources when you welcome a new tenant with packets or when you provide move-out instructions.
- Another key insight: free bulky-item pickups often exclude smaller apartment buildings. These programs help single-family homes recycle items like mattresses, but many multifamily properties miss out. Forward-thinking property managers are collaborating with city officials to extend these benefits to their buildings – saving residents money and reducing illegal dumping.
Welcome Packets
As the property manager, include mattress recycling information in your Welcome Packet for new tenants, along with instructions for recycling their cans, bottles, paper and organics. That new tenant may upgrade their mattress shortly after moving in, and they need to know what to do with the old one.
A crucial tip for you and your residents: Remind tenants that California law requires retailers to take old mattresses for free when delivering a new one. For those who don’t have one delivered, provide the address and hours for the nearest Bye Bye Mattress collection site. You could include the site’s address and hours directly in the Welcome Packet.
Move-Out Guide
To facilitate the orderly transition of apartment tenants, you may have a Move-Out Guide or Checklist. The guide can serve as both a worksheet to guide decision-making and track progress, as well as an information source on utilities, notifying post offices, and where to make local donations. Make mattress disposal a required step on your move-out checklist. Clearly state the consequences of illegal dumping and provide the nearest free Bye Bye Mattress drop-off location and operating hours.
The Rest of the Time
It’s crucial to maintain a continuous dialogue with your residents about proper disposal and recycling procedures. Utilize both non-digital (flyers, signs, notices) and digital channels (email, newsletters) to maintain awareness, particularly before high-turnover weekends. Consider notices in secondary languages if needed.
There are also annual environment-related observances, such as Earth Day (April 22nd), Arbor Day (the last Friday of April), and America Recycles Day (Nov. 15th), when tenants can be more mindful of recycling and provide another excellent opportunity to collaborate. If they seem open to doing more, gauge their interest in leading a community-wide event, such as an informational session or assisting with a beautification project.
Some cities sponsor annual or semi-annual free bulky item pickups, which may include mattress recycling, and in some communities, this free service is extended to apartment residents. Stay informed about any free bulky item pickup events and communicate the details, especially any sign-up requirements, to your residents.
Through our joint community projects, we have found that property managers need to make an extra effort to convey the details of these free pickups. It turns out that the success of free pickups in multifamily neighborhoods depends upon the active involvement of property managers.
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, cleaner properties and healthier communities are better for everyone. The benefits are exponential. They might seem obvious, but they’re worth stating. Trash-free surroundings create happier tenants who strive to maintain a clean environment, and a clean environment promotes better community health, leading to stronger, more prosperous communities. And we’re here not only to facilitate that, but also to help make your job a little easier.
Short List of Other Recycling Programs in California
When renovating or repairing your properties, consider using these other recycling programs for harder-to-dispose-of items:
- PaintCare – Households and businesses are encouraged to take their unwanted, leftover paint to drop-off sites. Most are located at paint retailers, which are convenient locations open year-round and seven days a week. Visit www.paintcare.org for details.
- Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) – Manages over 150 public drop-off sites for carpet recycling in California. Ask your contractor, maintenance crew or installer to recycle at a CARE drop-off site; lower tip fees may apply. Visit CarpetRecovery.org/CA or contact [email protected].
- Electronics Recycling – In California, there are dozens of organizations and businesses that accept used electronics such as old televisions, computers, printers, etc. at no charge. Go to CalRecycle’s website to find the nearest location or free collection event to drop off your old electronics. Visit https://www2.calrecycle.ca.gov/electronics/eRecycle/ for more information.
- Thermostat Care – In California, it is illegal to dispose of mercury thermostats in the regular trash. Inform your contractor or maintenance crew to set these aside in a plastic bag and dispose of them at a local collection site. Visit www.thermostatcare.org for details.
The Mattress Recycling Council (MRC) is a nonprofit organization formed by the mattress industry to operate recycling programs in states that have passed mattress recycling laws. It manages statewide mattress stewardship programs in California, Connecticut, Oregon, and Rhode Island, promoting responsible recycling through partnerships with sleep industry professionals. MRC’s Bye Bye Mattress program has recycled more than 13 million mattresses in California since 2016, diverting 490 million pounds of material from landfills and maintaining over 240 permanent drop-off locations across the state. For more information, visit byebyemattress.com.