More than 1,000 mattresses have been diverted from the SWAMP landfill since last June, thanks to a free drop-off program.

SWAMP Manager Brent Kletke explains mattresses are especially difficult in landfills as the tangle of stuffing and metal springs clog up equipment.

"I really want to keep that program going," he says.

The nearly 1,000 mattresses have been dropped off across the Pembina Valley, which are then shipped to Winnipeg for recycling.

"You wouldn't think an area our size would generate that much, but that's what has happened," Kletke says.

Currently, Kletke is lobbying the government to add a levy when purchasing a mattress, "just like when you buy a pop bottle and they charge a two-cent recycling fee... and then for every mattress we recycle we would get that levy back. I think there would be a lot of landfills that would follow our lead on that."

SWAMP continues to subsidize the cost of shipping the mattresses to Winnipeg-based mattress recycling plant, Mother Earth.