It’s always interesting to me what are the reactions to laws and regulations designed to do something good.

Recently, the new mattress law came to my attention. The commonwealth put in place a law that prohibits the disposal of mattresses and the transportation of mattresses for disposal at a solid waste disposal facility.

The goal is to compel people to call their cities and towns and arrange for a pick-up of an unwanted mattress so it can be recycled.

Sounds sensible, yes? According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), there are 600,000 mattresses disposed of annually. That’s taking up a lot of space in landfills.

By the way, the DEP defines exactly what is and what isn’t covered by this regulation: “Mattress means any resilient material or combination of materials that is enclosed by ticking, used alone or in combination with other products, that is intended for sleeping upon, except for mattresses that are contaminated with mold, bodily fluids, insects, oil or hazardous substances. Mattress includes any foundation or box-spring. Mattress does not include any mattress pad, mattress topper, sleeping bag, pillow, car bed, carriage, basket, dressing table, stroller, playpen, infant carrier, lounge pad, crib bumper, liquid or gaseous filled ticking, including any waterbed and any air mattress that does not contain upholstery material between the ticking and the mattress core, and mattresses in futons and sofa beds.”

Got that? They have to be clean to be recycled as well.

I understand. Mattresses pose a real challenge to any solid waste disposal program. With the decline in landfill space, the commonwealth needs to deal with mattresses in a different way.

In Springfield, getting rid of a mattress means a call to the city to make a pick-up appointment, the purchase of a $8 sticker and putting the mattress in a special plastic bag that costs less than $9.

So, for about $17, you can legally and responsibly get rid of an unwanted mattress. It sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

My wife is the executive director of the Community Survival Center in Indian Orchard. This nonprofit organization is an emergency food pantry serving parts of Springfield and Ludlow as well as other communities. It finances the programs through donations of food and money, as well as grants. It also has a popular thrift shop that is a revenue stream.

People also donate things to the thrift shop, such as used clothes and small household items. No furniture and no mattresses have ever been allowed.

The center has exterior signs noting what they can accept. They also have security cameras in an effort to stop people from dumping there.

My wife went to work the other days and there were 10 mattresses propped up against its fence. The Springfield police worked with the center in dealing with these illegal dumpings and have been very helpful.

Now the center spends thousands of dollars each year with a garbage hauler to remove items such as these mattresses. So, that money which could be used to support the program now must be spent to deal with the lazy and irresponsible people who want a nonprofit to pay for their trash disposals.

The center is now installing more cameras and lights in an effort to make someone think twice before piling their unwanted crap onto the center’s property. They are being as proactive as they can.

The cost to the center was more than $1,200 to legally cart away the mattresses. The good news is through the intervention of City Councilor Zaida Govan and the mayor’s office, the center will receive some valuable assistance.

I’m sure we will be seeing mattress dumping in other communities as well. They will pop up in fields, parking lots and by the side of a road.

The point, though, instead of doing the right thing – calling the city and spending about $17 to legally and ethically to get rid of a mattress – some people simply want to pass the responsibility to other people.

It’s infuriating to think that at a time of a year at which we supposedly express care for others, there are people who insist on being complete … well I can’t write the word I was thinking.