Recycle Ann Arbor has announced three new initiatives that launched this month, adding to the long list of items that the organization accepts at their two drop-off locations in Washtenaw County.

1. Mattresses

Mattresses at the Drop-Off Station collected in the first week of July for recycling.

Courtesy of Becky Andrews

Fees for recycling — $15 for a twin or full-sized mattress, or $20 for a queen or king-sized mattress — have been adjusted to cover hauling the mattress to a facility that will recycle it and to cover the unit cost for recycling.

It’s a cost-neutral change for Recycle Ann Arbor, said Becky Andrews, manager of the Drop-Off Station.

Mattresses will be hauled to Michigan Mattress Recyclers in Gaylord, where the foam padding will be made into carpet underlay, the cotton will be turned into insulation, the fabric ticking will be used to make archery targets, the steel springs will go to a scrap yard and the wood frame will be chipped for power generation.

Andrews said about 130 mattresses were dumped in the landfill in July 2012.

“All the mattresses were going to the landfill,” Andrews said. “It was a waste.”

Andrews said it’s more expensive to recycle mattresses than to dump them in the landfill — but it’s worth the effort.

Mattresses can now be recycled at both Recycle Ann Arbor’s Drop-Off Station 2950 E. Ellsworth Road in Ann Arbor and facility at 7891 Jackson Road.

2. Hard drives

Old hard drives can also now be securely shredded and recycled.

Secure hard drive shredding has already been offered at the Jackson Road facility, and now will be offered at the Drop-Off Station as well.

For a $10 fee per hard drive, the company that Recycle Ann Arbor contracts with will send customers a certificate of destruction once a hard drive is destroyed. The company keeps track of the hard drives according to their serial numbers.

An additional $10 fee will be charged for labor should the hard drive need to be removed form a computer. Staff will not service laptop computers.

3. New TV pricing

TVs collected at the Drop-Off Station are packaged for shipment to a facility where they will be recycled.

Courtesy of Becky Andrews

“I tried to do it the absolute fairest way possible,” Andrews said, explaining that she believes the new system will make the payment system more friendly to customers with both large and small TV sets.

Because customers were charged fees to dispose of their TVs based on the unit’s weight, Andrews said numerous problems arose with regard to customer behavior.

Previously, customers would have to drive their vehicles to the scale to have their TVs unloaded by staff members and then weighed. Customers would then have to return to the gatehouse to pay for the TV.

“It seemed frustrating and not safe,” Andrews said, noting that at times customers would ask for their TV to be put back in their cars if they thought the price was too steep for recycling.

To avoid paying for the recycling of their TV, Andrews said other more daring customers would drive past the gatehouse and dump their TVs into the landfill.

Some people would strip their TVs of the casing to try to reduce their weight as well — including removing them from entertainment centers — which presented a safety risk for staff trying to handle the TV, Andrews said.

A TV stripped of its casing.

Courtesy of Becky Andrews

TVs will be checked and measured if necessary.

The Drop-Off Station is able to divert about 50 percent of the waste that’s brought into the facility from the landfill.

Materials recycled through the facility are different from what’s collected in the city of Ann Arbor’s single-stream curbside recycling bins, including automotive fluids, paper and card, tires, metals, yard waste, concrete, electronics and other materials.

The Jackson Road facility accepts more construction-related material as well, including vinyl siding, concrete, shingles, metals, yard waste and wood.

Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.