Orange County NC Website
79 <br />From July 2013 to March 2016 the county has received an average of 187 mattresses /box springs per month at the <br />Eubanks Road landfill facility. About 61% are recycled with the remainder hauled for disposal at the waste transfer <br />station. Eighteen thousand dollars ($18,000) are budgeted annually in the Recycling Division to fund mattress recycling. <br />Revenue from the $10 fee is estimated at about $23,000 annually. Disposal costs are incorporated into the Sanitation <br />Division tipping fee account. <br />Estimated Annual Cost of Current Program = $36,000 <br />Estimated Cost Net of Revenue = Loss of $13,000 <br />Special Handling Required <br />Mattresses are universally considered a "special handling" type waste in the solid waste industry. It has long been a solid <br />waste industry best practice to not place mattresses or box springs into compaction equipment; including compacting <br />collection trucks or stationary compactors like those at Walnut Grove Church Road W &R. The wire becomes entangled <br />into the compacting mechanism and requires considerable time and effort to cut the wire and remove it, resulting in <br />avoidable expense and equipment down time. County solid waste staff recently contacted vendors of stationary <br />compactors and compacting collection vehicles to inquire and /or verify their ability to handle mattresses and box <br />springs and both responded that damage could result and that manufacturers as well as equipment service departments <br />strongly recommend against trying to compact mattresses. The stationary compactor vendor stated that shredding was <br />the best option but will cost an additional $80,000+ per compaction unit, plus an undetermined amount of associated <br />maintenance expenses. <br />Mechanical handling equipment such as skid steers, fork lifts, etc. are unable to grab, rotate and /or stack efficiently in a <br />roll off container, box truck or other constructed area. If not methodically stacked /loaded into a truck or roll -off <br />container the mattress and /or box springs create bridges which lead to sizeable air pockets. Thus, hauling efficiency is <br />lost. <br />In order to load mattresses for maximum volume load in a roll -off container or truck bed it is necessary to manually <br />move them. Larger mattresses can be simultaneously heavy and unwieldy. If wet they become quite heavy. One <br />person can handle a twin mattress, but two persons are required to safely handle queen and king size mattresses. Some <br />are badly soiled and close handling is avoided. <br />For Disposal <br />For residents at a W &R, maneuvering a mattress up and over into a bulky material roll -off container at grade or below <br />grade (lifting over the safety railing) can be physically challenging. Once inside the container, the mattress and /or box <br />springs can again create bridges which lead to sizeable air pockets, reducing the quantity hauled and reducing hauling <br />efficiency. It should be noted that in 2009, a Sanitation Collector was injured assisting a resident in lifting a mattress <br />into a roll -off and retired due to his disability. <br />So if mattresses are to be accepted at W &R for disposal, and hauling efficiencies are to be considered, the mattresses <br />and box springs will have to be placed into containers in an organized manner, stacking them manually as they are <br />received. <br />For Recycling <br />