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Remember the good old days when you slept on the same mattress for what felt like decades? You only bought a new one when the dips in your mattress made it too hard to get out of bed, or the broken springs got so bad they hurt.
And, for those who aren’t old enough to remember those hardy mattress products, you might still know what it’s like to be stuck with the same mattress you had in grade school.
Eventually, however, we have to get rid of that old mattress and replace it with a new one.
But sleeping on an old, broken-down mattress was nothing compared to the task of old mattress removal!
Yes, It’s My Truck and, No, I Won’t Haul Your Mattress
While it has certainly been done, transporting a mattress on top of the family care is not a good idea. Aside from the work involved hefting it up there and then trying to secure it with whatever rope or old clothesline you happen to have on hand, it’s just not very safe.
But without a full-size pickup truck, mattress removal is a daunting task.
In fact, there are really only two options and the first one – hauling it yourself – requires access to a truck. Plus, you have to have a place to take it to.
The second option is to have someone else take it for you. And, as you might imagine, that’s the option we highly recommend at Junk King Washington DC. We have the trucks and, yes, we WILL haul your mattress. In fact, we specialize in mattress removal.
However, you might be surprised to know that we won’t take your old mattress to the dump.
Virginia has roughly 60 solid waste landfills still in operation, according to the website VirginiaPlaces.org, and the EPA counts 74, but breaks it down to only 28 landfills with current plans to expand. The other 46 are either close to being full or have been slated to close soon.
So, in a region that boasts a population of close to 6.5 million people in the Washington DC Metro area, one has to imagine that there are going to be a few used mattresses that need to be removed and taken somewhere!
And if you were thinking it’s someplace other than a landfill, you’re getting warm – really warm.
Not Your Grandmother’s Incinerator
Enter Waste-to-Energy combustion.
The advent of technologically advanced furnaces that can efficiently and safely reduce solid waste to reusable ash has radically altered the waste disposal landscape.
As one of the leaders of this field describes it,
“These modern facilities divert waste from landfills to generate energy from the combustion of municipal solid waste. Our Waste-to-Energy facilities are designed to convert the waste that remains after recycling into electricity for homes and businesses and/or steam for export to industries.”
Using high-tech furnaces, companies like Covanta produce steam from the combustion process which then generates electricity. And their facilities generate enough electricity right now to power 1,000,000 homes 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while reducing the amount of greenhouse gases by over 20 million tons.
But let’s bring this out of the realm of “Big Picture” statistics and closer to home. Like Fairfax County, for example.
Covanta’s I-95 Energy/Resource Recovery Facility, where we take old mattresses, by the way, has an impressive list of statistics of their own:
- Every year, our facility processes more than 1,120,000 tons of waste that would otherwise have ended up in landfills.
- Less waste in landfills reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 1,220,000 tons of CO2. That’s like taking 236,000 passenger vehicles off the road for one year.
- We use waste to produce 80 megawatts of electricity 24/7 – enough to power 62,000 homes for a year.
- We also recover 39,700 tons of metal for recycling annually – enough to build 29,000 cars.
Oh, and all the ash that results from combustion is processed to recover metal for recycling, while all gases are collected, filtered, and scrubbed – or cleaned – before being released safely into the atmosphere.
Junk King Washington DC, Mattress Removal, and Waste-to-Energy – How It Works
At Junk King Washington DC we collect large numbers of old mattresses through our mattress removal process. These are staged at our Junk King warehouse and then transported in bulk to the I-95 Energy/Resource Recovery Facility in Lorton, Virginia located on the aptly named Furnace Road.
Once our old mattresses are delivered, they are strategically placed on the floor approaching the entry to the furnace. By holding these mattresses in place with the blade of their bulldozers, employees at the facility guide them across the floor, using them like “giant squeegees” to clean the floor before being pushed into the furnace.
The combustion furnaces reach temperatures close to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, superheating water, which is then turned into steam and pumped into the turbine generators.
And, once we collect another load of old mattresses, we take them to Furnace Road, drop them off and the cycle repeats.
Oh, and back to the ash.
Solid waste can be practically vaporized by these furnaces, but there is still a residue of ash remaining. In the past, this relatively benign by-product was reluctantly sent to landfills.
However, a newly developed ash processing system takes the ash from Waste-to-Energy facilities and further separates it into its component parts
As the Lorton facility’s website explains,
“The result is small metal fractions that can be recycled, and aggregate that can be reused in construction material, such as hot-mix asphalt for roads and parking lots and concrete for commercial use. Most importantly, the process can reduce the amount of ash needing disposal in landfills by as much as 65 percent.”
In addition, with the help of our team at Junk King Washington DC, hundreds of mattresses that would otherwise likely end up in landfills, as well, are essentially turned into electricity to power local homes.
Waste-to-Energy Mattress Removal: Just One More Reason to Call Junk King
The eco-friendly corporate mission of Junk King is to make sure as much junk as possible is either recycled or donated. As a result, Junk King is the only national company that operates with the goal of recycling 60 percent or more of every job by using local sorting facilities.
And Junk King Washington DC is proud to be a part of the greenest junk removal operation in North America.
This is why every junk removal load we pick up, no matter how large or how small, is sorted for various types of materials in our recycling warehouses such as metals, plastics, wood, glass, textiles, and reusable items.
And for mattresses to be turned into energy!
Another reason for choosing Junk King Washington DC is that we have the best pricing in our industry. And we also provide fair and transparent pricing.
“Fair and transparent” simply means that our low minimums are clearly noted, and there are no hidden fees or “extra” charges added to our estimates. All of this means that you can trust Junk King Washington DC to charge you a fair price for your junk removal and you’ll never be unpleasantly surprised with a higher price once the job is done.
Say a Warm “Goodbye!” to Your Old Mattress with Junk King Washington DC
In addition to giving a warm send-off to your used mattress, you can know that it will be serving a great purpose to help preserve the environment. And you can be assured that you’ll be getting world-class mattress removal service when you call Junk King Washington DC.
Even better than our renowned service is the benefit of not having to do it yourself.
Our professional and experienced mattress removal team can also remove and haul off any other types of junk you have, as well (except hazardous waste.) Fortunately, old mattresses rarely fall under that category!
Not only is Junk King Washington DC part of one of the nation’s largest and most respected junk removal firms, but we are also proud of the fact that our location is locally owned and a 100 percent veteran-owned business.
While our passion is maintaining a green and eco-friendly operation, we are also adamant about providing outstanding service to our neighbors who live here in and around Washington DC.
Mattress removal couldn’t be any easier – or green!
Our professional and insured mattress removal team will come to your home and we’ll call 15 to 30 minutes before we arrive. Once there, we’ll give you a free quote based on how much room your mattress and junk takes up in our truck.
You simply point, and we’ll load your old junk mattress and other items into our big, red, junk removal trucks and haul them away – and all with no hidden fees!
So, ready to get rid of your old mattress? It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3.
All you need to do is make an appointment with us by booking online above, or by calling us at 1.888.888.JUNK (5865).
