A new organic mattress can be a costly investment, and it’s one that many budgets might not be able to handle right now. Even if you’re not ready to shell out hundreds or even thousands on a new mattress set, you can make bedtime environmentally friendly with these, less expensive, green bedding products.

Buy New Bed Sheets: A new set of organic bed sheets will breathe some green into your existing mattress. Organic sheets are available in everything organic flannel, wool, and even bamboo. The bamboo sheets above are made from 100% organic bamboo fiber.

Buy a Mattress Pad: Consider covering your existing mattress with an organic mattress pad made from unbleached cotton or wool. A new mattress pad will freshen up an old mattress, and give you a nice organic surface to sleep on. Here’s a mattress pad that is made of organic cotton flannel to keep you toasty this winter.

When you buy a new mattress, there’s always the nagging question of what to do with your old one. According to Ideal Bite, Americans throw away about 20 million mattresses each year. When you consider how large a typical queen size mattress is, that’s a staggering amount of landfill space.

The good news is that mattress recycling programs are popping up across the country, and some communities are even mandating mattress recycling.  Once your mattress reaches a recycling center, it will likely be dismantled and separated into recyclable categories such as wood, metal, and fabric.

Earth 911 offers a recycling search tool that will help you find mattress recycling programs near you.  Simply type in “mattress”, or any other item, and your zip code.  If there’s no recycling program near you, or even if there is, you can always donate your mattress to a shelter, second hand store, or list it on Craigslist or Freecycle.

The organic mattress in the photo above has a quilted top that’s made from 100 percent organic cotton.  It’s also vinyl and PVC free.  I found the NaturePedic Deluxe organic mattress at Living in Comfort. Com.