Even the best pillows finally bite the dust. Here are some ways to get one last bit of life from your pillow, some creative ways to use old pillows, and tips on how to dispose of pillows in a more eco-friendly way.
Before you write off your pillow for good, there are ways to give it one last bit of life. Let’s assume you’ve sewn up any rips or tears, given it a good wash (if it’s machine washable), and plumped up the fill with a good shake.
If your favorite pillow has lost too much of its loft and is not an easily adjustable pillow that you can refresh with more fill (my favorite kind!), consider:
- Using a smaller pillowcase to plump it back up
- Shaking the fill down at one end and sewing an artificial seam to reduce the length of the pillow
- Unpicking the seams of the cover, or cutting the cover, refilling, and resewing.
All three strategies can add some firmness and height to a tired pillow and give it a few more years of use.
Pillows that are truly done as bedfellows can still be useful, though.
If you have an old, worn out pillow no longer suitable for sleep, consider repurposing it as:
- A decorative pillow for the couch or your bed
- A kneeling pad around the house, such as in a kid’s play area
- A jacket for a homebrew fermentation barrel (seriously, my dad did this when I was a kid)
- Insulation or a draft excluder under doors
- Fill for a homemade pet bed
- Stuffing for a craft project.
How to recycle a pillow
Very few towns and cities, or bedding companies, have pillow recycling programs. This is a real shame as millions of pillows are discarded each year.
Because most pillows are made with synthetic materials and toxic chemicals, keeping them out of landfill or incinerators can help prevent pollution, be it microplastics in water or VOCs in the air. Even with natural pillows, recycling programs can help reduce the need for new resources, which results in less use of land, water, and energy overall.
How you recycle a pillow will depend on its composition. Some recycling facilities only take bedding made with one type of material, such as a pillow with polyester fill and a cotton or polyester cover. It can be much harder, if not impossible, to recycle more complex blends of materials, such as a polyfoam pillow mixed with cooling gel beads or other bizarre additives dreamed up by the pillow industry.
Recycling natural pillows
While natural, organic pillows that haven’t been treated with toxic chemicals will eventually biodegrade in landfill without harming the environment, it’s always best to try to keep materials in circulation. This helps to reduce the use of virgin resources and can save energy overall.
You may find it easier to give away natural, non-toxic pillows to local artists and crafts people to use in their work. Social media callouts and good old word of mouth may turn up someone who has a fun project for which they need old wool, cotton, kapok, or latex.
As for down pillows, these are rarely accepted for recycling, but the down and feathers are compostable. That leaves the fabric, which you can usually recycle along with clothing and other simple textiles.
How to prepare your pillow for recycling or disposal
You can recycle at least some part of every pillow, but that assumes it’s safe to do so. If your pillow is contaminated with bodily fluids, especially from a sick person, it’s best not to recycle the pillow as this could spread illness and disease.
If the pillow is just a bit grubby from everyday use, give it a wash according to care instructions before recycling. This usually means using less detergent than for typical laundry loads and drying on low before air-drying to full dryness.
After your pillow is clean and dry, you might want to remove the outer cover and bag the fill separately. The cover is usually easier to recycle.
Who recycles pillows?
The best way to find out who recycles pillows near you is to contact:
- Your town or city’s environment department
- Local environmental charities
- Your local recycling depot
- The manufacturer of your pillow!
TerraCycle offers three pillow recycling options for pillows and other bedding:
- Bedroom Separation Box ($150-$405)
- Fabrics and Clothing Separation Box (from $136 to $345)
- Bedroom Separation Pallet ($2,432).
The latter is a larger pallet, so you might want to have a zero-waste neighborhood party where folks can bring their pillow, duvet, or other bedroom items for recycling. It’s also a more affordable option if you have a large family or club together with family and friends to clear out old bedding that’s tough to recycle elsewhere.
For the smaller boxes, shipping is included in the box price. For the pallet, you have to pay for shipping. TerraCycle responsibly recycles all pillows it receives. This isn’t the case with many recycling depots, where even if you drop off a pillow, there’s no guarantee it will be recycled.
That said, the American Textile Recycling Service (ATRS) does recycle pillows and has a network of drop-off bins for textiles and household goods such as pillows in a few states. You can contact the organization here to find out if there’s a bin near you.
Final thoughts on pillow recycling
There’s a strong chance that if you’re looking to recycle a pillow, you’re also in the market for a new one. Keep recycling and end-of-life disposal in mind as one of the factors to consider when choosing a new pillow.
As we’ve seen, mixed material products, especially synthetics, are harder in general to recycle. Avoid polyfoam and polyester, which are normally not recycled. Avoid, too, semi-synthetic textiles such as bamboo and eucalyptus.
Also, consider investing in a pillow protector to extend the life of your new pillow, so it’s a long time before you have to think again about pillow recycling.