GBH: Towns needed mattress recycling. Young adults leaving prison needed jobs. This nonprofit stepped in.

April 24, 2025

LOWELL — When Massachusetts banned throwing out mattresses three years ago, a local nonprofit United Teen Equity Center — or UTEC — saw a unique opportunity for its young members. UTEC teaches young people who are “justice-involved” life skills like woodworking to help keep them out of prison.

Now, it has its environmentally conscious mattress recycling program, too. In just one year, since Earth Day of 2024, the program has recycled nearly 50,000 mattresses and box springs in 36 Massachusetts cities and towns.