Disposing of a mattress

[GB]

I bought a new mattress from Emma, and very foolishly I didn't take up their offer (for £45) to dispose of the old mattress.

The good news is that I could saw up the old foam mattress into reasonable size chunks that will eventually go in the wheelie bin.

That's the end of the good news.

The bad news is so plentiful that it's hard to know where to begin.

The old mattress is 1 cubic metre. But, when it comes to fitting it into the bin, it's more like 3 m3.

And, the mess! OMG! The mess!

I am blessed with a particularly kind and lovely spouse, but this has taxed her patience.

[SH]

Angle grinder? :-D

Some councils offer a large item collection service.

I got rid of 2 double mattresses for £20 all in (Northants) and the council will collect up to 3 items. They will not collect fridges or freezers.

Have a look at your local council website.

[GB]

Absolutely agree. Here, in Barnet, it is £35 for 1-3 items. Worth every penny, it turns out! :)

I'm still hoovering. Just taking a short break.

[Andy Burns]

To get rid of my previous one I snapped all the metal rods running top to bottom (the metal was surprisingly weak) put a couple of ratchet straps round it and curled it up, then drove it to the tip ... mind you I did have an estate car back then.

[Theo]

I think your problem is now you have 57 items...

[alan_m]

+1 My local council will collect a single/double mattress for a £10 fee and thereafter £7 for any other bulky item collected at the same time (max 5 items)

My council (or more correctly their refuse contractor) will collect fridges/freezers for the same fee. These items must be defrosted and shelves removed.

I'm in the process of purchasing a new fridge and the above charges are under half what the retailer wants for removal of the old fridge.

My local tip will also accept bulky items such as mattresses without a fee if you can transport it there yourself in a car or car towed trailer. No commercial waste allowed and the tip now has automatic car number plate recognition, presumably to track the number of visits.

I know someone who has just got out of the house clearance business partly because of rising costs of dumping commercial waste. The commercial waste tip charges £25 for any size mattress, another £25 for any bed frame, £25 for a sofa, £25 for a armchair etc.

[SH]

Its the same here in Northants. Domestic users now have to register for a trailer permit before arriving with a trailer and you are allowed 3 trailer visits for each 12 months that the permit is valid for.

The trailer permit is free (currently)

There appears to be no limit on trailer size or an allowance for more visits with smaller trailers.

My trailer is only a 4ft by 3ft so there are poeple out there who have

6ft by 12 ft trailers who get away with far more with this trailer permit.

I also have a roof box on my estate car so I can technically take in more waste per trip and it doesn;t count as a trailer visit if I do not have said trailer hitched.

[Sam Plusnet]

The last time we 'disposed' of a mattress, SWMBO insisted on taking it apart and extracting all the pocket springs - on the "They might come in handy" principle. I think they are all still up in the loft - along with a couple of tons of other "They might come in handy" items.

[Tim+]

I thought that was a Y-linked trait?

Does she have a suspiciously large Adam’s apple? ;-)

Tim

[Animal]

some other options... take it to the tip pay a disposal company too much strip the cloth/padding off, take it to the scrappie give it free on freecycle, gumtree, etc if in good condition, which it likely won't be

[Sam Plusnet]

I am suspicious of many things, but not of her Adam's apple (Eve's apple?). An inclination towards hoarding isn't exclusive to one gender.

[jim.gm4dhj]

tranny ?

[jim.gm4dhj]

tiz

[Colin Bignell]

Following a burst pipe before Christmas, my female neighbour had to move out and have the house cleared. It required more than 30 skips to clear, mostly of rubbish she had hoarded.

[Thomas Prufer]

Stick the foam mattress (or parts thereof) in a plastic bag, perhaps using the one that the new one came in. Apply the hose of a vacuum cleaner to the bag. The mattress will contract; roll up the bag, or otherwise get it as small as possible, while leaving the vacuum running. This will include stepping on it, being careful to not perforate the plastic. While the mattress is in submission, wrap the bag in packing tape, like a roast in butcher's twine, or a generous wrap of clingfilm, or a combination. Remove vacuum hose and let the vacuum run for a bit to cool the motor...

The mattress will expand alarmingly against the tape (string, rope, clingfilm), but it will be much smaller.

While the above may sound like a joke: no, it isn't. Yes, this works, and yes, I have done this successfully (more than once). I'd estimate a size reduction of

10:1.

Thomas Prufer

[Paul Herber]

That's the difference. Women hoard rubbish, men keep useful stuff just in case.

[Bob Henson]

Therein lies another huge difference between the genders (I'm old, so there are still only two of those). The difference is not only what, but where (generalization coming up warning). Men don't care what it looks like so long as they know exactly where it is. Women don't care if it is never seen again (it usually isn't) so long as they can't see it.

[alan_m]

Wait until you move :)

I recently helped with a long distance removal (at the house at the receiving end). The removal cost around £4K. One van was loaded with junk consisting mainly of the miscellaneous contents of sheds that probably hadn't seen the light of day for many years including plastic roofing sheets that had gone brittle and s**te pieces of wood infested with woodworm.

I didn't enquire about the multiple boxes labelled "loft" that came out of another van. I guess that at least £2K of the cost of shipping could have been saved with a well timed bonfire or tip run.

I also know of someone who purchased a wooden shed to store boxes of "it could come in useful one day". The shed is packed floor to ceiling, side to side and along the full length with these boxes and would require hours of back breaking labour to shift them all out if something was required from the far end. To my knowledge the shed door hasn't been opened for at least 5 years. The door also has a padlock to stop thieves stealing the valuable contents :)

[The Natural Philosopher]

So am I, but there are in fact three. He she and it. There are only two sexes.

The difference  is not only what,

[The Natural Philosopher]

I find a skip every 5 years is optimal. They may take mattresses too. Sort junk into 'never want to see it again' 'so that's where that went' and 'wonder if its worth ebaying it'

The cash you make will more than pay for anything you threw away and then found you needed.