One of the UK's largest bed and mattress recycling facilities has started operating in the West Midlands.

Beds enter the new shredding machines at Dream’s distribution hub in the West Midlands.

Bed retailer Dreams has installed two new multi-million pound state-of-the-art bed shredders at its distribution hub, to crush and shred old beds and mattresses.

The mattresses come from Dreams customers who can pay a small fee for them to be collected as their new beds are delivered.

Once shredded, metallic items such as bed springs are melted down and re-used in the manufacture of new metal products while wooden bed frames are turned into mulch for chipboard manufacture, landscaping and children's play areas.

The cardboard, paper and polythene are recycled and fabric cut offs are used to make building insulation materials.

The purchase of the new machines follows increasing demand for bed and mattress recycling, which can often cause problems at landfill sites as they cannot be easily compacted and take up a lot of space.

The German technology has replaced a former crushing machine which enabled Dreams to recycle over 65,000 beds in two years. Now, the company is able to recycle significantly more beds.

A Dreams spokesperson said: "This significant investment will set Dreams apart form its competitors, not only be offering its customers a unique and added value service, but also by demonstrating great corporate social responsibility. Britain's leading bed specialist is now Britain's leading bed recycler!"

Dreams first ventured into recycling in 1995 when it introduced an old bed and mattress collection and recycling service.

At present, there are relatively few mattress recycling facilities in the UK, with FEAT enterprises in Scotland being one of the few other organisations to offer the service (see letsrecycle.com story).