The Mattress Recycling Council (MRC) is a non-profit organization established by the mattress industry to develop and operate mattress recycling programs in California, Connecticut and Rhode Island, three states that each passed laws in 2013 requiring that mattress producers develop programs to recycle mattresses discarded in their states.

Mattresses and box springs (also commonly called foundations). This includes new, used, and renovated mattresses and box springs.
Please click here for a complete list of included and excluded products.

Yes, if the adjustable base is covered in ticking.

No. Mattresses that are intended specifically for use in motorized vehicles are not subject to the fee.

Producers (as defined below in question 3.2) and retailers of mattresses and box springs must register with MRC. There is no cost for registering with MRC. Click here to register.

A "producer" is defined as someone who:

1. manufactures, renovates or imports mattresses or box springs, and
2. sells, offers for sale, or distributes those mattresses or box springs in one or more of the three states that have enacted mattress recycling laws (that is, California, Connecticut or Rhode Island).

If you meet these criteria, you must register with MRC.

A "retailer" is defined as someone who sells mattresses or box springs, or offers to a consumer a mattress or a box spring in one or more of the three states that have enacted mattress recycling laws (that is, California, Connecticut or Rhode Island), through any means, including, but not limited to, by remote offering, including sales outlets or catalogs, online, by telephone, or through the mail. If you meet these criteria, you must register with MRC. For these purposes, this definition applies to sellers of mattresses and box springs both to residential consumers and to other mattress end-users (such as hotels, dormitories, hospitals, etc.).

An "institutional seller" is a person or entity that sells or offers for sale, a Mattress or Box spring to an entity for public or corporate use - such as a hotel or other lodging establishment, school, dormitory, hospital, nursing home, correctional institution, military facility, rental company or other non-residential end-user - in one or more of the three states that have enacted mattress recycling laws (that is, California, Connecticut or Rhode Island), through any means.

As a retailer, you must:

1. Register with MRC
2. Collect a "visible" recycling fee on your sales of mattresses and box springs to customers (that is, the receipt or invoice you provide the consumer or other purchaser must show the fee as a separate line item)
3. Remit the fees you collect to MRC

Yes. Companies that import foreign-made mattresses or box springs and sell or distribute them to consumers in one or more of the three states must register as a producer.

If you only purchase mattresses or box springs from a producer (as defined above in question 3.2) located in the United States, and then distribute them to retailers, you are not required to register with MRC as a producer. If, however, you sell mattresses directly to end users (e.g. individual customers, hotels, etc.), you will be required to register with MRC as a retailer, collect the recycling fee from purchasers, and remit those fees to MRC. If you import and distribute mattresses and box springs from outside the United States, you are considered an importer and must register as a producer if you sell, offer for sale, or distribute those mattresses or box springs in one or more of the three states that have enacted mattress recycling laws (that is, California, Connecticut or Rhode Island).

As a producer, you must:

1. Register with MRC
2. Producers selling mattresses and box springs to retailers as wholesale transactions DO NOT collect the fee.
3. Producers selling directly to end users (consumers, hotels, universities) must include the "visible" recycling fee on receipts or invoices.
4. Producers selling mattresses and box springs to rental companies in CA, RI and CT must include the “visible” recycling fee on receipts or invoices to the rental companies.
5. Remit collected fees to MRC

No. Please click here for a complete list of included and excluded products.

One or more of the three states that have enacted mattress recycling laws (that is, California, Connecticut or Rhode Island) could prohibit producers and retailers that fail to register with MRC from selling their products in those states. Other penalties/sanctions may also apply.

Please click on the following link to refer to MRC's Fee Policy.

For these purposes, a renovator (that is, a person that renovates or reconditions a discarded used mattress or box spring for reuse) is considered a producer that must register with MRC if they sell, offer for sale, or distribute renovated mattresses or box springs in one or more of the three states that have enacted mattress recycling laws (that is, California, Connecticut or Rhode Island). If you sell some or all of those products to consumers or end-users in these states, you must also register with MRC as a retailer, collect the mattress recycling fee on those sales, and remit those fees to MRC.

The mattress recycling laws each apply to all mattresses and box springs sold to consumers in those states. Therefore, new or used mattresses or box springs would be treated the same, and a party dealing in used mattresses or box springs would need to register as a producer and/or retailer as appropriate.

After logging into your account, participants can un-check states where they no longer produce, renovate or sell mattresses. Deregistration is subject to review and approval and may take up to 90 days to take effect.

Please contact MRC to validate the termination of any Producer, Renovator or Retailer currently participating in these mandatory state programs. Deregistration is subject to review and approval and may take up to 90 days to take effect.

Retailers must collect the fee on all sales of mattresses and box springs that take place in California, Connecticut, or Rhode Island, even if the delivery occurs outside of that state.

Companies that sell mattresses and box springs online or through venues other than traditional brick-and-mortar retail store establishments, such as sales to large volume purchasers, including hotels, universities, military bases, furniture rental companies (sometimes called "contract sales"), as well as sales by mail, television, etc. must collect the fee on all mattresses and box springs sold for delivery in California, Connecticut, or Rhode Island, regardless of where the seller is located. However, in the case of online sales, where the sale originates in California, the California recycling fee does not apply to mattresses or box springs that are delivered outside of the state.

The fee does apply to mattresses or box springs sold to residential consumers by brick- and-mortar retail stores located outside of California for delivery in California.

The fee does not apply to mattresses or box springs sold to residential consumers by brick-and-mortar retail stores located outside of Connecticut for delivery in Connecticut.

The fee does not apply to mattresses or box springs sold to residential consumers by brick-and-mortar retail stores located outside of Rhode Island for delivery in Rhode Island.

For further information, please click on the following link to see MRC's Fee Policy.

A recycling fee of $9.00 in Connecticut, $10.50 in California and $16.00 in Rhode Island (beginning on May 1, 2016) per unit must be collected on each mattress and box spring sold to consumers in the state(s).

Yes. The recycling fee must be charged separately for each mattress and/or box spring sold.

The fee must be explicitly identified as a separate line item on the invoice or receipt that the retailer provides the customer. The fee must appear on the invoice or receipt as "Recycle Fee".

Yes. The fee is subject to sales tax in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

In California, the California Board of Equalization (BOE) has issued a tax opinion informing MRC that the California mattress recycling fee is not subject to sales tax.

You only need to collect the mattress recycling fee when you sell mattresses or box springs to end users, and then remit those fees to MRC. If you sell to retailers that in turn resell your products to end users, the retailers are required to collect the mattress recycling fee from their end-user customers, and then remit those fees to MRC. But if you are a producer that sells directly to end users (that is, individual consumers, hotels, etc.) in one or more of the three states, then you must collect the fee from the end user and remit it to MRC.

In the case of rentals or leases the rental or lease company is considered the end user. As a result, a Producer must collect the fee when it sells a mattress to a rental or lease company operating in California, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Producer then remits those fees to MRC.

In addition to this general rule:

• In Connecticut and Rhode Island, the rental or lease company does not collect the fee from consumers entering into monthly rental or lease contracts of any duration or rent-to-own agreements.
• In California, the rental or lease company must also collect the fee from consumers renting or leasing a mattress for 12 months or more, or if a consumer purchases the mattress at any time during the rental or lease period and the rental company transfers ownership to the consumer, resulting in a sale. The rental company must remit those fees directly to MRC.

The Recycling Fee must be visible on the consumer receipt or invoice and the retailer must remit the fee amount to MRC. However, the program does not prohibit a retailer from issuing a credit, rebate or promo code to reimburse the consumer for some or all of the fee.

Yes, the fee applies to all units sold on or after May 1, 2015 in Connecticut, on or after December 30, 2015 in California, and on or after May 1, 2016 in Rhode Island. If the mattress replacement is a no sale exchange, the fee does not apply.

Participants are required to keep records of product sales for at least 3 years for audit purposes. Participants should consult the appropriate authorities to determine if records need to be retained for longer periods of time for tax or other purposes.

Each month, retailers remit the fee using a secure on-line portal that can be accessed at www.mrcreporting.org. A retailer reports the number of mattress and box spring units sold and returned during a remittance period, and then remits to MRC the fees that it collected on those net units. Retailers will be periodically required to provide documentation to demonstrate that the fee has been properly collected on all relevant sales and accurately remitted to MRC. Any collected information that the MRC is required to report will be limited to aggregate data.

Reporting is based on all your sales during the reporting month. A sales is considered completed when money is exchanged from the consumer to the company and the recycling fee is collected. For example, a consumer could pay for an item that is not delivered until after the reporting month closes. If the completion of the sale occurs in one reporting month and the delivery of the mattress in another reporting month, only count that mattress sale in the reporting month that the sale occurred.

The retailer must refund the fee to the consumer when processing a return if the return occurs within 90-days of the date of sale. Refunds from 91 days to 120 are at the discretion of the retailer. Since a retailer remits fees only on its net sales of mattresses and box springs during a reporting period, all customer refunds during that reporting period must be reflected in the net sales calculation.

Retailers must refund the recycling fee within 90-days of the date of sale. Refunds from 91 days to 120 are at the discretion of the retailer. All refunds must be reflected in the net sales calculation in the month the refund occurred.

Retailers remit the recycling fees they collect to MRC monthly. Fees collected on sales during a given calendar month must be remitted to MRC by no later than 30 days following the end of that month. For example, fees that a retailer collects on mattress and box spring sales in March must be remitted to MRC by April 30 (that is, 30 days after the end of March).

Yes. Even if a registered retailer sells no mattresses or box springs during a given month, the retailer still must file a report with MRC. If a retailer discontinues selling mattresses or box springs in one or more of the states, it may terminate its MRC registration for the relevant states. Once that termination is effective, it may stop filing monthly returns with MRC.

Please click on the following link to refer to MRC's Fee Policy.

Please click on the following link to refer to MRC's Fee Policy.

Once a report is submitted, payment of fees can be made by:

1. mailing a check or money order,
2. electronic transfer (ACH) from the participant’s financial institution or
3. online payment through the web portal.

Information for submitting payment can be found on your invoice.

No. Retailers are not required to recycle such mattresses or box springs. Retailers may voluntarily participate in the recycling program and provide their used mattresses and box springs to recyclers under contract with MRC. There is no recycling cost to retailers that wish to participate.

In California, a retailer that delivers a mattress or box spring to a consumer must also pick up the consumer's discarded mattress or box spring at the consumer's request at no charge. In this case, however, the retailer is not prohibited from charging a mattress delivery or set-up fee.

In Connecticut and Rhode Island, there is no take-back requirement, however, retailers cannot charge to recycle a used mattress through the Program. Connecticut and Rhode Island retailers are not prohibited from charging a mattress delivery or set-up fee.

There are two exceptions to the pickup obligation:

• A common carrier delivering a new mattress purchased through an online transaction is not required to pick up a used mattress;
• A retailer may refuse pickup if "the used mattress is contaminated and poses a risk to personnel, new products, or equipment".

Producers and retailers will be asked in certain circumstances to provide to MRC information and documents that they consider to be confidential. Under the laws in each of the states with mattress recycling laws, MRC will not disclose such information to the public or competitors.