Adding yet another gadget that consumes energy to your home appliance system can concern the environmentally conscious. Here at Flexispot, we are supportive of sustainable products, and our electric beds, from crafting to use, have a minimal impact on the planet.
We work to deliver products in an environmentally sustainable way, to minimise our carbon footprint and yours. We urge all customers to remove old pieces of furniture responsibly by reselling them to a buyer directly or using a refuse company that gets rid of old furniture responsibly.
Do Electric Beds Harm the Environment?
Electric beds run on electricity and are therefore much less harmful to the environment than products that use gas or other fossil fuels.
To make your electric bed even kinder to planet Earth, we advise turning off your electric bed when you are not using it or setting a timer for it to switch off during the night when you are fast asleep and in a comfortable position that you are unlikely to move from.
This will not only be better for the environment but also better for your energy bill. Electric items left on standby do still run and incur a small charge. This can add up over the years.
How Much Does It Cost To Run an Electric Bed?
Electric beds are very cheap to run. To give you an idea of the most you can spend on electricity for an electric bed let's look at the maximum cost.
If you are operating your electric bed 24/7, with multiple adjustments made per hour, and with an electric blanket on top, it would cost less than £4 a week to operate.
Many people use much less than this as they usually only use the bed at night and do not also have electric blankets running. On average most people switch positions between two or four times per night which makes the cost even lower.
In short, you will see a minimal change to your electricity bill at most, even if you decided to keep it switched on all the time. However, for environmental purposes, it is always best to switch off any electric appliance while you are not using it.
How Do I Safely Dispose of an Electric Bed?
If you already own an electric bed and are looking to upgrade to a new and improved bed, like the EB011, then there are a few ways you can safely remove your old electric bed to make disposal as environmentally friendly as possible.
Sell it on
The best way to get rid of anything you don't want anymore is to either sell it or give it away for someone else to use! This is the fastest and most efficient form of recycling. If your old electric bed works perfectly fine then there is no reason why you cannot put it up for sale or gift it to someone else.
However, whoever you sell or give it to must be made aware that the bed is second-hand and that they are accepting any risks when purchasing the bed from you. Unlike buying a bed from a store, buying from a second-hand seller means that if anything goes wrong with the bed, there is nothing they can do. If the person buying or receiving the bed is happy with this, then go ahead.
Most sellers mitigate any risk by selling the bed at a lower price than they originally bought it, even if it is still in perfect condition.
Contact a Recycling Company
Most towns and cities have a private recycling centre that will come and collect electrical items, they usually do this for free if the item is still in a useable condition.
Centres that do this take the item from your home, take it to their centre where they put it through a deep cleaning process and safety check before selling the item either to a second-hand store or gifting it to people in need. This is a great way to get rid of your bed however it is considered a gift and not a sale, so do not expect them to buy the item from you (although some might) and they usually do not accept mattresses.
Contact Your Local Council
If your old electric bed is not useable and can not be fixed then it is unlikely a recycling centre will take it - unless they also deal in scrap metals.
It could also be that there is no recycling centre close to where you live, in either of those cases then it is best to contact your local council.
Councils run disposable services for large items that may not be suitable for recycling or for the local tip. They come in a secure van or lorry that is able to safely transport the item and dispose of it appropriately. Each council has its own disposal methods but all UK councils are committed to lowering the country's carbon footprint, so they will destroy or recycle the parts of the electric bed as sustainably as possible.
Councils usually charge a small fee for collection, but this is often much cheaper than hiring a van to take the bed to the local tip.
Overall buying, using and disposing of electric beds is not harmful to the environment and much less hassle to manage than you would think. When disposing of old electric beds, try to recycle as much as possible. Electric beds are cheap to run but always turn them off when you are not using them to minimise environmental impact further.
