The Wilkerson Company Awarded $10,000 to Improve Mattress Recycling Conditions

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Wilkerson Company in Fairfield was recently awarded $10,000 from the Mattress Recycling Council (MRC) to expand their intake area to allow more mattresses to be accepted for recycling through MRC’s Bye Bye Mattress program. The Wilkerson Company collects an average of 100 mattresses per week for recycling, with peak mattress collections sometimes topping 700 per week. The mattresses are housed at The Wilkerson Company until they can be loaded onto trucks and taken to recyclers.  

“This extra funding is essential to help us better serve our community. We are saving people money because they don’t have to pay to drop off a mattress at a landfill, where it doesn’t break down. There are so many better uses for the raw materials,” said Sara Wilkerson, co-owner of The Wilkerson Company. “We are grateful MRC has awarded us this money.” 

MRC has awarded more than $300,000 in funding to Bye Bye Mattress collection sites throughout California to fund infrastructure improvements or equipment purchases to increase the recyclability of discarded mattresses and box springs. 

“Providing these grants is just one of the ways we continue to work with the more than 200 mattress collection sites throughout California to increase productivity and divert as much material as possible from state landfills,” said Mike O’Donnell, managing director of MRC. “The program serves as a global model for successful mattress recycling and we want to continue that leadership.”

To date, MRC’s Bye Bye Mattress program has recycled more than five million mattresses in California, equating to more than 168 million pounds of material kept out of state landfills. More than 80 percent of a mattress can be recycled and turned into new consumer and industrial products.