you are right @anotherjohn it used to be free for the first mattress and then £14 for any others. Now it is £5 each. So cheaper if you are getting rid of multiple mattresses per year, but more expensive if you just want to get rid of one.

There remain some people in the community who would prefer to leave a mattress on the street than pay £5 to arrange collection and many residents will claim they don't know that there is a mattress collection service (free or not). I'm not surprised that people don't know as I only recently found out that I couldn't take paint pots to the recycling centre and had to contact City of London to arrange collection of two old tins of paint. The whole business of what you can and cannot recycle and where you can do it is a minefield.

The big improvement is opening the recycling centre on Saturday afternoons which makes it easier for those of us with access to a car to avoid the collection charges.