For Yellowknifers looking to breakup with their mattress, it might start costing you to do so.
The city’s public works department is recommending the implementation of a mattress surcharge of $25 if residents decide they want to deposit their old sleeping quarters at the dump.
“The City has tried several ways to manage mattresses, including directly burying them within the Construction and Demolition Landfill Cell, baling to compress the mattresses, and shredding the mattresses to remove the metal content prior to landfilling,” a city memorandum reads.
In other cities such as Whitehorse, the mattress surcharge is $17.25 while in Calgary, it’s $25. According to Hay River’s fees and charges bylaw, it’s $10.00 until at least 2026.
Yellowknife’s proposed surcharge would apply to both residential and commercial customers, according to the memorandum. It also notes surcharges are applied to materials at the solid waste facility (SWF) that require additional processing prior to disposal either on or off site.
“Mattresses are a challenging waste to manage for any SWF due to the springs that make up the interior of the mattress,” the memorandum explains.
City council will make a decision on what to do with that going forward during its next meeting on Monday.