Youngstown pays Michael’s Lawn Service $20 for each abandoned mattress it picks up and takes to the dump.
In 2017, it collected 188 mattresses. It grew to 213 in 2018 and 219 last year.
This year Michael’s Lawn Service has picked up nearly 1,200 so far.
The City of Youngstown now will increase it’s contract with Mike Yarn of Michael’s Lawn Service from $20,000 to $45,000 to pick up abandoned mattresses.
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY ABANDONED MATTRESSES IN YOUNGSTOWN THIS YEAR YOU ASK?
Commissioner Erin Bishop said there are a number of reasons.
The first is because of the Coronavirus pandemic and bed bugs.
Bishop ordered that the mattresses must be wrapped in plastic or the garbage truck won’t pick them up.
Michael’s Lawn Service wears a protective suit along with a face mask and gloves when he picks up the mattresses.
The next reason she cited is that people are cleaning out their houses more during the pandemic. Many are not wrapping the mattresses in plastic so they are left at the curb or they are being dumped around the city.
Sometimes the mattresses are dumped at abandoned houses. The commissioner said one house had 25 mattresses in it.
The third reason she gave for the explosion of dumped mattresses is that people from around the Youngstown area are bringing their old mattresses and boxsprings to the city to dump off.
Commissioner Bishop acknowledged the problem is unique to Youngstown in the Mahoning Valley.
“I don’t think it’s happening at the level of Youngstown elsewhere in the area,” Bishop said.
*The images are stock photos
