by Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle
July 7, 2026
Oregonians kept more than 130,000 mattresses and box springs from landfills during 2025, the first full year of a new statewide recycling program with free collection points in nearly all of the state’s 36 counties.
The Mattress Stewardship Program went into full swing in January 2025, three years after the state Legislature passed a law to make it easier to recycle mattresses and box springs to reduce illegal dumping. To help pay for the program, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality added a $22.50 fee to each new mattress bought by an Oregon shopper online or at stores.
Of the more than 130,000 mattresses and box springs recycled in 2025, about 2,000 were donated and able to be refurbished and reused for bedding, according to a recent announcement from the Virginia-based nonprofit Mattress Recycling Council, which runs the statewide program with oversight from the environmental quality department.
The rest were deconstructed for parts such as wires, foam, and fibers in either Eugene, Portland or Klamath Falls and sent to manufacturers of other products that can reuse the materials for things like carpet padding and home insulation.
Mattress retailers are required to register with the council, which coordinates a network of no-cost collection sites and annual or semi-annual events in nearly every Oregon county and 25 additional sites scattered across the state.
In 2025, individuals dropped off about 90,000 mattresses at those sites and events, and about 40,000 came from universities and from businesses such as hotels, junk removal companies and mattress stores, according to the council.
Oregon is one of four states with a state-mandated mattress recycling program. The others are California, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Mattress Recycling Council, which runs the mattress recycling programs in those states, said in a news release that it recycles about 2 million mattresses each year.
Oregon’s mattress recycling rules follow similar state regulations in recent years requiring manufacturers to pick up some of the end-of-life costs of products such as paint and electronics, or to invest in programs to recycle such products. The state’s Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act, passed in 2021 and officially launched last year, is on pause after a federal court challenge from the wholesale product distribution industry, who claim it is unconstitutional.
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