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On the first of the month the alleys of the West End possess a sleepy quality.
Mattresses and boxsprings used to be accepted at Metro Vancouver landfills until they were added to the list of banned materials in January, 2011.
Cities throughout the region have reported a dramatic rise in illegal dumping following the new regulations.
Completely recyclable and resistant to compression, mattresses take up huge amounts of space in the region’s landfills. Experts estimated that between 100,000 to 150,000 mattresses and boxsprings were being tossed each year.
Now, if brought to a landfill, a $50 “transfer fee” is levied for the transportation of the materials to an approved recycling facility. If taken to an approved facility directly, the cost is about $15.
Or, you know, you can just dump it in the alley.
Photo Credits: Liam Hanham, Matt Chambers
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There’s something disgusting about recycled mattresses. One step above underwear?
The obvious solution here is to charge the $50 fee on any mattresses being imported into the province and then take them away for free.
FTFY - The obvious solution here is for the trash collectors to take them away as part of the contracts they have with the city. Putting a mattress in a truck does not and should not cost $50.
@JohnSmith
You sure about that? You have to pay someone to load it, figure out the cost of hauling the mattress around the city while the garbage truck continues loading, and the factor in the increased number of trips due to the volume of mattresses. Then you have to take them all to a transfer station, unload them. Then you have to load them back onto a truck to have them delivered to a recycling facility.