How to Recycle Your Old Simba Mattress
Getting rid of an old mattress takes a little more planning than most household items. Not only is it too big for pavement recycling, it’s also such a costly faff that it almost puts you off buying a new mattress altogether. At Simba, we offer a mattress recycling service for £50 that takes care of this for you. We'll collect from the room of your choice, whatever brand or size the mattress is, and our trusted third party partners then separate out the components for recycling. And even better, we offer this as a stand-alone service, so there's no Simba purchase necessary.
This guide covers how to book a collection, how to get your mattress ready and what happens to it after it's been collected.
Why Mattress Recycling Needs Specialist Handling
Modern mattresses are built in layers. A hybrid might combine pocket springs, foam comfort layers, wadding, a knitted cover and a woven base fabric, and all of those materials have different onward uses once they've been separated. Pulling them apart by hand at any scale isn't practical, so dedicated recycling hubs handle the work with the right machinery behind them.
The National Bed Federation reported that 24% of discarded mattresses in the UK were recycled in 2025. Real recycling means salvaging over 80% of the materials, and the estimated rate for that sits closer to 14%. Those figures shaped how we set our own service up, and they're the reason we work with partners who process mattresses at volume.
What Our Mattress Recycling Service Includes
The £50 service covers:
- Collection from the room of your choice, upstairs or down
- Any brand of mattress, in any size
- A protective transit bag posted out to you before the collection date
- Processing by UK based partners
- An aim to recycle, reuse or repurpose at least 80% of each mattress
Once the materials are separated they head off in different directions. Recovered steel typically re-enters the scrap metal supply chain, foam can be reprocessed into carpet underlay, and textiles and fillings are often turned into fibre for insulation or upholstery stuffing. The more cleanly a mattress comes apart, the more of it can be put to use.
Our partners strip mattresses into their component parts at a rate of around 12,000 a week. Everything is sorted and sanitised, then put through a quality control check before it's redistributed for its next use. In the first year of the service we recycled 6,550 mattresses, and as a UK sleep brand with B Corp™ certification, that number is one we're keen to keep growing.
How To Book A Standalone Collection
If you're only looking to dispose of a mattress, the recycling service is available to buy on its own from our site. It's a standalone service, so adding it will clear anything else from your basket. However, you can get our recycling service as an add-on when purchasing a new Simba mattress - you’d add the option during checkout when choosing a delivery option.
Once the order is placed, you'll receive a booking link by text and email within three days. Opening that link lets you pick a collection date from the slots available in your area. Your protective transit bag arrives ahead of the collection, and if the date you've chosen stops working for you, it can be rearranged by getting in touch with our team.
Getting Your Mattress Ready For Collection Day
A mattress has to arrive at the recycling hub clean and dry to be processed, so a few things are worth sorting out in advance:
- Keep the mattress indoors, and don't store it outside or in a damp garage while you're waiting
- Strip off all bedding, mattress protectors and toppers
- Fit the protective bag we send you before the crew arrives
- Keep the access route clear, and lay down dust sheets if you'd rather protect your floors and carpets
- Keep an eye on your phone, because we'll confirm your time slot on the day and let you know about any changes
Our crew can collect from any room in the house, so you don't need to move the mattress downstairs yourself beforehand.
Adding Recycling To A New Mattress Order
Buying a new mattress from us makes the whole thing simpler, because old mattress removal is available as a delivery option at checkout. Choosing Standard Delivery With Old Mattress Removal and Recycling costs from £50, and the collection happens on the same day your new mattress is delivered.
VIP delivery with old mattress removal costs £100. With that option the crew bring the transit bag with them and bag the old mattress for you on the day.
If you've already placed an order and want to add the service, our live chat team can sort it. We'll need to hear from you by 1pm at least two working days before your chosen delivery date, as later requests can push the delivery back. The service isn't running everywhere in the UK yet, so if you can't see the option at checkout, it hasn't reached your area so far.
Can You Collect An Old Bed Base Too?
Yes, bed base removal and recycling is available through VIP Delivery With Old Mattress or Bed Removal and Recycling, which you'll see at checkout when you're buying a bed base from us. Bases do need to be taken apart before the crew arrives, because we don't offer a disassembly service. Setting aside an hour the evening before is usually enough for a standard frame.
Lining Up Your Replacement
Timing the collection to land on the same day as your delivery keeps disruption to a single morning, and it means you're never storing an old mattress in the hallway while you wait. If you're weighing up what to replace it with, our range of Simba Hybrid® mattresses runs from single through to super king, and every one of them comes with a 200-night trial and a 10-year guarantee. Add the recycling option at checkout and both jobs are done in one visit.
FAQs
The standalone service is £50, and that covers collection from the room of your choice plus a protective transit bag. Booked alongside a new mattress delivery, old mattress removal starts at £50 with standard delivery or £100 with VIP delivery.
Yes. We'll collect any brand and any size, and you don't need to have bought anything from us to use the service.
Our partners strip each mattress into its component parts, then sort and sanitise the materials before a quality control check. Springs, foams and fabrics are all redistributed for onward use, and we aim for at least 80% of each mattress to be recycled, reused or repurposed.
Yes, someone needs to be in so the crew can access the room. We'll text you a time slot on the day of collection and update you if it moves.
You can. Message our live chat team by 1pm at least two working days before your delivery date and we'll add it to your order. Requests made closer to the delivery date may need the delivery to be rescheduled.
