Mattress and Furniture Recycling Site to Open

Conigliaro Industries, Framingham, Mass., will soon be starting its Mattress Destruction and Recycling Plant. The facility—possibly the only plant of its kind in New England and perhaps the U.S.—will start up on Monday, October 15, 2001.

The plant will accept mattresses, box springs and large upholstered furniture items to shred and recycle a large portion of what is received. According to company president Gregory Conigliaro, the response from colleges, hotels, furniture retailers, hospitals and municipal waste departments “has been incredible.”

“Mattress and upholstered furniture waste generators will now have a viable, cost-effective and long-term recycling program,” says Conigliaro. The company will charge a tip fee, but “rates are less expensive than landfilling or incineration,” he says

The new plant, which will be able to process nearly 150,000 mattresses and other items per year, features an AZ-80 ShredPax Pre-Shredder.

The resulting shred is sent through various trommel screens, conveyors and metal separators to recover various recyclable streams. The metal springs are the largest volume and most easily marketable material. Over 60% of the typical mattress (by weight) is metal, according to Conigliaro.

The urethane foam and clean wood will be hand-picked and sent to end markets in the carpet backing and landscaping mulch industries respectively.

The mattress and furniture plant is not Conigliaro Industries’ first foray into a recycling niche. It is the third project to result from a Recycling Investment Reimbursement Credit Grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

The first grant in 1999 was given to develop viable mixed plastics recycling outlets. Conigliaro Industries developed Boston’s Best Patch, a cold patch pot hole filler made with 80% mixed plastics aggregate.

The second grant in 2000 was given to further develop mixed plastics aggregate markets. Conigliaro Industries developed Plas-Crete Blocks, retaining wall blocks made with 50% mixed plastic aggregate.