Dispose of mattress, but how?
- Joel Hügli
- Jan 12
- 4 min read
Disposing of mattresses is a laborious process. To avoid this, many people illegally dump their mattresses on the streets.
There are disposal options for a fee, including bulky waste stickers, at waste disposal yards, or at furniture stores or specialist shops.
Depending on its condition, the mattress can be resold or recycled, saving money and valuable resources.
Wondering how best to dispose of your mattress in Switzerland? Don't worry, you're not alone. Here are five options for disposing of your mattress :
Mattress disposal fee
Dispose of your mattress for free
In Switzerland, up to one million mattresses are disposed of annually. Disposing of mattresses is often a challenge because they are large, bulky, and heavy.
In some cases you can simply leave the mattress on the side of the road for free and hope someone will pick it up. Experience shows that this isn't very successful (and sometimes even illegal) because the mattress quickly gets dirty, gets in the way, or even gets rained on.
Six options for mattress disposal
To prevent your old mattress from taking up space at home or becoming moldy in your cellar, there are six options for disposing of your ol mattress – the last two options being preferable becasue the are low in cost and more eco-friendly:
Waste disposal site (charges apply)
If you have a larger car, you can bring your mattress directly to the recycling center. Depending on the conditions, you may be eligible for free disposal because you finance the disposal costs through taxes, or you may have to pay a fee based on the weight on site.
The disposal costs for a mattress typically range between CHF 5 and CHF 40. In urban areas, the mattress can be disposed of at municipal waste disposal sites.
Here is the information on local bulky mattress disposal:
Zurich: In Zurich , you pay a flat rate of CHF 22.70 for the delivery of bulky goods (up to 100 kg).
Bern: Recycling centers in Bern charge a fee of 0.25 cents per kilo. This averages out to 7 Swiss francs per mattress.
Basel: The waste disposal sites in Basel do not have uniform prices.
Lucerne: In Lucerne , the disposal of bulky waste costs 0.30 Swiss cents per kilo. For a mattress, this amounts to approximately five to ten Swiss francs, depending on the size.
Bulky goods vignette (charges apply)
Depending on where you live, so-called bulky waste stickers or tags are sold by the municipality or local stores. These allow you to leave your mattress on the street on certain days to be collected by the city as bulky waste.
Overview of municipal offers with bulky waste stamps:
Zurich: There are no bulky waste vignettes for Zurich , but there are mobile recycling hubs and waste disposal services.
Bern: The small bulky goods labels in Bern are only approved for smaller items. These labels are not suitable for mattresses.
Basel: In Basel , depending on the weight of the mattress, two or three bulky goods vignettes costing CHF 4.50 each are required.
Lucerne: In the city of Lucerne , four to five bulky goods tags are required per mattress. Five tags cost a total of CHF 9.00. The mattress weight must not exceed 25 kg.
Depending on the size and weight, a mattress requires a different number of these stickers. On designated disposal days, you can then place your mattress visibly at the curb, and it will be picked up by the local waste disposal service and disposed of in the waste incineration plant.
Exchange transaction for new purchases (charges apply)
If you're buying a new mattress, you can ask the furniture store or retailer if they can take away your old mattress. In most cases, this service is offered for a small additional fee. The old mattresses will then be disposed of by the furniture store or retailer as bulky waste and incinerated.
Pick-up service for old mattresses (charges apply)
Even without purchasing a new mattress, some mattress retailers offer a disposal service for old mattresses.
In these cases, the old mattress is picked up directly at your home and disposed of as bulky waste. As a customer, you don't have to lug the mattress around, but it is a more expensive options.
Online marketplace (free of charge)
If your mattress is no longer the newest but is still usable, you can offer it on an online marketplace (e.g. Ricardo , Tutti or eBay ) with a few photos and a text description.
There are thousands of offers, ranging from free to very expensive. For a used mattress, we recommend donating it for free. It's a win-win-win because you get rid of your mattress, someone else can hopefully sleep well again, and the environment is protected.
Mattress recycling (free of charge)
In extremely rare cases, mattress companies offer to take back and recycle your old mattresses. These are sustainable and ecological mattresses with an upfront recycling fee.
At the mattress startup ecomade, you can activate the recycling service via the QR code. Your mattress will then be picked up from your home and recycled. This conveniently solves the problem of disposal and helps protect the environment.
Tips for disposing of a mattress
From an ecological perspective, distributing via an online marketplace clearly makes the most sense. If distributing is no longer possible due to quality issues, recycling can also reduce CO2 emissions . Disposal as bulky waste in waste incineration (thermal recycling) should be considered as a last resort, as the entire value of the material is lost.
Mattress disposal without heavy lifting?
If you don't want to worry about disposal next time, we at ecomade have a solution for you.
With our ecomade mattresses, disposal is hassle-free. Simply scan the QR code on the mattress cover and activate the recycling service. The mattress will then be picked up from your home and recycled.
Find out more about ecomade mattresses at a free sleep consultation in Zurich:
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