New England’s Premier Mattress Recycling Program

New England’s Premier Mattress Recycling Program

We are passionate about supporting recycling opportunities, giving materials new life and succeeding in the common goal of keeping mattresses out of the landfill.
We are passionate about supporting recycling opportunities, giving materials new life and succeeding in the common goal of keeping mattresses out of the landfill.

Meet The Tough Stuff Team!

Meet The Tough Stuff Team!

With an unrelenting commitment to sustainability and rising to recycling challenges, the Tough Stuff Recycling team came together with a single, shared vision; solve the mattress landfill problem.
The founders of tough stuff have successfully recycled over 1,000,000 mattresses and in the process became the largest mattress recyclers on the West Coast where they implemented a proven pocket coil recycling system. Hundreds of happy customers later, Tough Stuff Recycling is ready to serve your household and your community!
With over 20 years’ of industry experience in environmentally friendly, cutting edge technology and logistical solutions, Tough Stuff is rendered incomparable to any other mattress recycler in New England.
By choosing Tough Stuff Recycling, you are choosing the number one service provider on the East Coast. You can sleep well on that new mattress, knowing that all of our mattresses are given new life through sustainable, recycling practices.

Mike Gurnee, CEO

Currently the CEO of Tough Stuff Recycling and the West Coast recycler, Xtraction, Inc., Mike started in the environmental field over 15 years ago where he found his passion for recycling. With his extensive background in process engineering, automation, and management, Mike has been able to make huge changes in the recycling industry. These changes have resulted in drastic throughput increases, higher economic returns, higher recycling rates, and lower costs.
My passions are environmental stewardship and process engineering. By combining these two, we’re able to move the world closer to true sustainability.

Matthew Young, Major Accounts Director

Matthew Young, Major Accounts Director

Matt is a sustainability and recycling entrepreneur with a variety of experiences across the end-of-life materials management chain.

Rodney Clara, Director of
Business Development

With twenty-plus years of experience in the waste diversion and product stewardship industry, Rodney’s journey began with Goodwill Industries, helping them to reach cost-saving, waste-diversion practices while generating new revenue streams within their operations with recyclable/reusable materials.
Working with leaders in the electronic waste/recycling industry, he coordinated and managed collection programs for municipalities, solid waste facilities, and businesses on the East and West coasts. As a result, tons of hazardous, electronic waste were kept out of landfills.
This experience allowed him the opportunity to launch one of the country’s largest Mattress Recycling – Product Stewardship programs for the State of California by helping regional municipalities, and private solid waste facilities understand the new product stewardship program law. This journey resulted in diverting over 4 million mattresses and box springs from landfills.

Dan Shaw,
General Manager

TSR’s General Manager, Dan Shaw comes to the team with 20+ years experience in Operations, Sales, and Warehousing where is has held various management roles for Warehousing and Supply chain companies, ranging from midsize to Fortune 500.

Dan brings with him extensive leadership skills and industry knowledge from his time as President of the Worldwide Trade Association and CEO of the Dominican-American Cigar Company.

A decorated Air Force Veteran, having served from 1980-1984, Dan remains a witness to history while being behind the barricades in Moscow during the collapse of the Soviet Union – snapping pictures of Boris Yeltsin giving his famous speech from atop the tank during the coup.

Dan is excited to put his experience to use with an impactful and innovative company like TSR!

Rosemary Arteaga,
Operations Manager

Rosemary is TSR’s first line of defense when it comes to operations! Leading the deployment teams, she ensures that every order is processed and executed smoothly and that deployment teams are safe and having fun. Rosemary is passionate about utilizing her high-tech and industry-changing recycling techniques to ensure that TSR ground operations run smoothly, and taking recycling to the next level by finding ways to pull more reusable materials from mattresses and other hard-to-recycle products!
I am passionate about taking my high-tech and industry-changing recycling techniques worldwide. To truly take recycling to the next level I am constantly finding ways to pull more reusable materials from mattresses and other hard-to-recycle products.

Tashiana Woodie

With 15 years of experience in customer service, Tashiana leads TSR’s Customer Support Team, driving superior service to customers and partners through her clearly defined KPIs paired with set policies and procedures that the TSR team delivers! Tashiana is both resourceful and solution-driven, taking great joy in helping others and finding the answers to their problems. Tashiana is most excited to be part of a company that has a real-world impact on both the local and global levels!

Kristie, Office Manager

With 30 years of experience in customer service and dispatching, Kristie has proven herself as a dedicated and efficient Office Manager. As a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, she provides local knowledge to the day-to-day business at TSR.
I knew very little about mattress recycling when I started a year ago. Now, it is my passion to educate others about the importance of recycling and the future of our environment.

Emily Gomez, Safety Compliance Coordinator

Born in Leominster, Massachusetts, and raised in Fitchburg her whole life, Emily is a mother of four and a grandmother to three grandsons.
Throughout her career, Emily has always been enthusiastic about helping people. Before joining Tough Stuff Recycling, she worked with the elderly for over 4 years as an Environmental Director. This position allowed her to spread happiness while knowing that she was helping someone feel better.
When Emily received the opportunity to join the TSR team, she started as a Team Lead and over time, worked her way through the ranks to become the Transportation Dispatcher, and eventually the Safety Compliance Coordinator.
With outstanding customer service skills and a positive, dependable attitude, she looks forward to gaining further knowledge and experience in the recycling industry and is excited to continue growing her career.
Helping others and doing something positive makes every day worth it.

Are You Making Room
for a New Mattress?

Are You Making Room for a New Mattress?

We will haul and process that mattress for you!