HRM examines mattress recycling

Instead of tossing mattresses left at the curb into landfills, Halifax Regional Municipality is exploring the idea of recycling them.

Gord Helm, manager of solid waste resources for HRM, suggests adding a tax to mattresses when people purchase them, to cover the costs of recycling.

"You're talking about wool, you're talking about springs and metals, you're talking about wood. Metals are recycled into metal recycling -- they're melted down and reused in different materials," Helm said.

Larger cities like Toronto and Vancouver already have programs in place for used mattresses.

Coun. Jennifer Watts says Halifax could see one too.

"There was a trial project, in my understanding, a couple of years ago of doing recycling of mattresses through the RRFB and that was handled by the local (construction and demolition waste) facility that we have here, " she said.

"But there was a cost associated with that, so who's going to pay for it?"

Watts expects that after the election in the fall, the newly elected council will look at the issue, when the city reviews its solid waste strategy.