Burlington: Mattress Recycling Program Helps Environment, Youth

BURLINGTON, MA — During Earth Month, a Lowell-based nonprofit is reminding Burlington residents about its mattress-disposal service that benefits the environment and at-risk youth.

UTEC provides curbside mattress collections in Burlington as part of its Madd Love Market's Mattress Recycling Social Enterprise. The pickups occur on a bi-weekly basis on Mondays and residents are charged $34 per unit collected.

According to UTEC, an average of 85 percent of each mattress can be recycled.

The service also became essential after the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) added mattresses and textiles to the list of materials banned from disposal or transport for disposal in Massachusetts last November 1.

Prior to the ban, authorities said that 600,000 mattresses and box springs were discarded annually in Massachusetts. When those low-grade products were tossed in the trash they negatively impacted local landfills and caused significant environmental damage.

Since the partnership with Burlington began in October of 2022, UTEC has recycled over 200 mattresses, according to the nonprofit. In fact, UTEC, which works with 30 municipalities, has collected and recycled tens of thousands of mattresses across the state.

"Burlington has been happy to partner with UTEC for curbside mattress collection since the statewide ban went into effect," said Rachel Leonardo, business manager in the Burlington Department of Public Works. "We understand the struggle that residents may face in finding their own mattress disposal facility and coordinating a pickup or drop-off. UTEC makes the process extremely simple for Burlington residents and we foresee a successful future together."

But that's only part of the service that UTEC provides.

UTEC also hires young adults to participate in the unloading and deconstruction of the mattresses, hand-cutting the mattresses and recycling the steel, foam and wood. In the process, the young adults receive workforce development training and acquire valuable warehouse skills.

Many of these young adults are court-involved youth, according to UTEC. But the nonprofit, like other social enterprise businesses, gives these young adults a clean slate and offers them essential job and life skills to prevent recidivism.

In fact, 79 percent of the young adults working at UTEC have obtained and sustained employment outside of the nonprofit, UTEC said.

"The program enables justice-involved youth to gain hands-on industrial and warehousing experience in a safe, structured workplace while gaining an understanding of the environmental impact they are delivering through their work," said Gregg Croteau, president and CEO of UTEC. Croteau continued: "For many of these young adults, our social enterprises are their first opportunity to gain work and life skills in a safe space, and we've seen firsthand how impactful that can be for our young people and our communities."

To schedule curbside pickup of mattresses in Burlington, residents can visit the UTEC website and select 'Burlington.' Residents also can make an appointment to drop mattresses off at the UTEC facility by calling 978-856-3997.