When a person passes away on a mattress without being found for a time or dies on a bed from a traumatic injury like a suicide, a family will often look at the soiled material and think it simply needs to be thrown away or the visible surface cleaned and the mattress reused.
Throwing away a mattress with bodily fluids on it, though, is illegal and the person can face harsh penalties for exposing others to the health hazard.
A mattress soiled with bodily fluids needs to be handled as biohazardous waste and disposed of following all federal and local laws. Even if the surface is cleaned after contamination, the material has already seeped into deeper layers unseen and remains a hazard to your health and the health of others.
However the mattress got into this condition, the family is often left wondering what they should do with the mattress if they can’t throw it away or clean it and reuse it. Whenever you need us, Georgia Clean is here for you to remove the mattress and safely dispose of the contaminated materials.
How do you get rid of a bloody mattress?
In the movie, Sunshine Cleaners, there is a scene where the two women take a bloodied mattress and dump it in the trash. In real life, this is illegal and they would face prosecution and fines. If you have a mattress soiled with blood or bodily fluids, every part of the mattress potentially contaminated must be removed and disposed of as hazardous waste.
Using special cutters and personal protective gear, a biohazard cleanup professional will cut into the mattress through all the affected layers and only recycle the areas of the mattress not affected. For the rest, it must be disposed of through the proper channels. In Georgia, this involves placing the material in specially labeled biohazard containers, transporting it using special permits and licenses, then having it incinerated at facilities prepared to handle “medical waste” such as this to prevent any further contamination. Any part of the mattress not affected can be sent to one of the recycling centers specializing in separating the different materials in a mattress and recycling them responsibly or thrown away as regular trash.
Can the blood be cleaned from a mattress?
When blood and bodily fluids seep into a mattress after an injury or while a body decomposes, the liquids have already seeped into multiple layers and no matter how much you clean the surface, blood will remain underneath breeding mold, bacteria, and other harmful substances. It is impossible to fully remove all the contaminates so don’t put your health at risk. Once a mattress is soiled in this way, it must be legally disposed of.
Can the mattress ever be saved and reused?
A mattress that someone has died upon can be reused only if there is no odor, blood, or other bodily fluids present. This can occur if the person is found right away after death or they die in the presence of others without the body starting to decompose. In these cases, simply remove all the bedding, make sure the mattress has not been soiled in any way, and wash all the bedding in the hottest water available. You can then reuse, recycle, or donate the mattress.
In some cases, there is a thick, fluid resistant mattress cover, which could keep the bodily fluids from reaching the actual mattress fabric and internal portions of the mattress. In this situation, a biohazard company would remove the the mattress cover containing the biohazards and properly dispose it.
If it has blood or other bodily fluids on it, even a small amount, the soiled parts must be handled as biohazardous waste and handled by professional biohazard cleaners.
Georgia Clean is happy to help
If you are figuring out what to do with a soiled mattress after a loved one died in Georgia, give us a call at Georgia Clean. Based in Atlanta, Our professional cleaners can quickly come to your home, safely dispose of the soiled sections, and then recycle the rest of the mattress. We know all the legal rules and regulations and will ensure you and your family are protected.
