When a mattress is donated to Community Warehouse, the goal is to give it another life.
Whenever possible, that means getting it into the home of someone who needs a safe, comfortable place to sleep. When a mattress doesn’t meet Community Warehouse’s standards for redistribution, the organization works to keep it out of the landfill by recycling it through its partnership with the Mattress Recycling Council (MRC). About 75% of the materials in a recycled mattress can be recovered for reuse.
Community Warehouse has received funding from the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) to support and expand its mattress reuse and redistribution through strategic staffing support. The funding is helping Community Warehouse increase its capacity to process and redistribute mattresses and other donated goods.
As the region’s only large-scale furniture bank, Community Warehouse partners with more than 230 social service agencies throughout the Portland metro region to furnish homes for people transitioning into stable housing. In 2025, the local furniture bank furnished more than 3,500 homes and served more than 8,000 people, including neighbors rebuilding their lives after homelessness, domestic violence, foster care, incarceration, and other life-changing circumstances.
Mattresses are an important part of that work. A bed isn’t just another piece of furniture—it’s a cornerstone of creating a comfortable, dignified home, and is the most requested item by clients visiting the furniture bank.
However, not every mattress is appropriate for redistribution. Community Warehouse maintains dignity standards for items entering its furniture bank, and mattresses that don’t meet those standards aren’t given to clients. Instead, they can be directed to recycling through the Mattress Recycling Council.
Oregon’s mattress stewardship law established a statewide system for collecting and recycling discarded mattresses, funded through a stewardship assessment on mattresses sold in the state. The program is designed to recover materials for reuse and recycling and keep mattresses and their components out of Oregon’s landfills.
The approach is straightforward: reuse when possible, recycle when necessary. It allows Community Warehouse to address furniture waste while also helping furnish homes throughout the region.
The environmental impact of that work adds up. In 2025, Community Warehouse diverted 1,328 tons of furniture from landfills, giving donated goods a second life in homes throughout the region. That included 3,915 mattresses redistributed to families and another 1,764 mattresses sent for recycling.
For Community Warehouse, the environmental and human impacts are closely connected. PCEF funding is helping Community Warehouse strengthen both pathways—keeping more donated goods out of landfills and putting more of them to work in the community.
Photos courtesy of PCEF.