Do you live in New Rochelle and need to discard your mattress because it is either old or you have bed bugs?  The City of New Rochelle sanitation will still pick it up and get rid of it for you, but now there is more you will have to do.  At Tuesday’s meeting, the City Council voted to require that all mattresses and box springs be bagged and sealed with packing tape before they will be removed.  Mayor Noam Bramson said the city’s intent was to protect its worker from being exposed to bedbugs.   “That is certainly a legitimate concern for us,” he said.  Alexander Tergis, the commissioner of public works, said with the increase of bedbug infestations in the area the number of discarded mattresses has increased as well.

“It’s double the amount of mattresses we are picking up,” he said, adding that people should call to arrange for a pick up but city workers have been picking them up anyway.  Tergis said the bags can be purchased from stores like Wal-Mart. He said when people call to schedule a mattress pickup they will be told that the bagging requirement is in effect and will be given information as to where they can be obtained.

City Manager Charles Strome III said initially if people place a mattress out to be picked up and it is not bagged and sealed, a note will be left telling them what to do.  Eventually citations will be issued, Tergis said.