Sofas to Landfill: The Economics of Recycling Furniture

Americans dumped 12.1 million tons of furniture in 2018 (EPA data), with 80% landfilled, 19.5% burned for energy, and only about 0.3% recycled. The core reason is that modern sofas are multi-material, glued builds with durable polyurethane foam that are costly to disassemble, making the labor and disposal costs exceed the value of recovered materials. Sorting and hauling small streams is expensive, so burial is cheaper. Mattresses are a notable exception due to state programs; France’s eco-fee model shows higher recovery when policy funds dismantling and sorting. The piece argues that without redesign or policy changes, furniture recycling will remain a tiny fraction of waste and landfilling will dominate.