Improving 311 Mattress Pickup and Recycling in Boston: A Digital Service Network Spotlight

Background

600,000 unwanted mattresses are discarded annually in Massachusetts. These bulky items are difficult to manage at solid waste facilities and often end up in landfills, even though more than 75 percent of mattresses can be recycled for materials such as metal, wood, fabric, and padding. 

In November 2022, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) established regulations that banned the disposal of mattresses and textiles in the trash. To comply with the regulation, the City of Boston developed a new online scheduling service that allowed constituents to book mattress pickups via 311. 

To learn more, the Beeck Center’s Digital Service Network (DSN) spoke with Stephanie Cariello, product manager with Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology; Gerard Gorman, assistant superintendent of Waste Reduction for Boston Public Works; Jay Greenspan, senior director of products and services, Basic City Services; and Kristen Shelly, zero waste, contract, and operations manager.

From In-House Development to Outsourced Acceleration

In Boston, mattress pickup has long taken place via 311. With more than 170,000 mattress-related calls each year, these requests have historically strained the system. This left constituents frustrated, as pickups would often take six to seven weeks to schedule. “We needed a better system that would work both internally and for our end users,” Shelly said. Due to the complicated digital infrastructure backing 311 and an outdated constituent relationship management system, getting an advanced scheduling service up and running would face several challenges.

The team working on this effort—Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology, Basic City Services, and Public Works—faced a key decision. Should they build a new scheduling tool themselves or purchase an existing product from an outside vendor? After evaluating external proposals, it became clear that buying off-the-shelf software would be costly and required substantial customization to meet the city’s specific needs. “By building the application in-house, we knew exactly what we’d be getting,” said Cariello.

Boston had a unique advantage. Staff in Basic City Services had experience with digital development, which helped the team adopt a strong product mindset from the jump. With agile, user-centered strategies at the forefront, they quickly defined clear technical requirements and product goals that aligned with constituent and staff needs.

With the regulatory deadline looming and pressure mounting from constituents, the team needed to move quickly. The in-house product design process started with wireframes and logic development before outsourcing backend engineering to an external vendor to accelerate the build. The team maintained close coordination with the vendor through regular meetings to troubleshoot, test, and refine. This dual insource-outsource approach allowed Boston staff to stay in close control, a challenge that cities can face when working with external vendors on digital tooling. 

This strategy paid off. The tool was completed in six weeks, and cost $50,000—far less than the $300,000 some vendors had quoted. That decision saved the city approximately $250,000 and resulted in a tailored product built on modern infrastructure.

Putting the Needs of Users First

The Boston Digital Service team centered the needs of all users of the new system, including city staff and constituents who would use the new tool.

When it came to stakeholders inside city government, the team developed a communication strategy to collect their feedback and keep them in the loop throughout the project lifecycle. “Our internal city stakeholders were brought in through the entire process and were kept tightly informed,” said Greenspan. Biweekly stakeholder meetings helped align design and operational priorities as development progressed. Meanwhile, daily stand-ups with the development team ensured technical execution stayed on track. Insights led to design choices like dividing the city into three zones to streamline operations.

Once the tool was ready for testing, training and internal onboarding were critical. 311 call center agents and field coordinators received hands-on guidance to help them navigate the new tool with confidence. The team worked closely with these staff to develop a clean, intuitive interface that worked well across devices. “We wanted to make sure that it was mobile-friendly and easy to understand,” said Cariello.

Public engagement was another priority. The team pursued a soft launch, treating the rollout as a quiet beta test to observe real-world use before widely promoting the tool. There was no mass communication to the general public; instead, about 30 Bostonians organically found and used the tool during the first week. Internally, staff within Public Works tested the system. 

This low-profile release allowed the team to identify bugs, verify that the backend reports successfully integrated with the Public Works department, and confirm system stability across existing departmental processes. While the primary goal was not to collect user feedback, the soft launch gave the team confidence to move forward with a broader rollout.

When it came time to launch, the city deployed a wide-ranging communications campaign to spread the word. “We’re always doing some kind of campaign,” said Gorman. “If it’s not a mailer, it’s subway buses, papers, tweets, social media, Instagram, Facebook—we’re doing it all.”

The team’s focus on cross-user communication and cross-departmental collaboration—paired with a gradual rollout—helped them build a system that was technically sound and widely embraced by both staff and residents.

Diving Deep into the Constituent Experience

Building a tool that reflected the constituents’ experiences and needs was at the heart of Boston’s design process. The team focused on building a tool that was simple, accessible, and inclusive for people who need to schedule a mattress pickup.

User research shaped design from day one. Staff gathered feedback from residents directly, including testing during high-volume events like college move-in weekend. These insights helped the team refine the interface and improve usability in response to real-world conditions.

The tool was also designed to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines’ accessibility standards and support multilingual use. Residents who prefer or require real-time assistance can book appointments through 311’s multilingual call center, ensuring the tool reaches Boston’s diverse communities.

Boston also emphasized transparency and performance tracking to support ongoing iteration. The team monitors how users interact with the new scheduling tool to identify common issues and points where users commonly “drop-off.” Users can also submit feedback directly about their experience with the mattress pickup scheduler.

We wanted to develop a continuous user feedback approach that the Public Works team could take ownership of once we were done developing it

Stephanie Cariello
Product Manager, Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology

“We wanted to develop a continuous user feedback approach that the Public Works team could take ownership of once we were done developing it,” said Cariello, highlighting the long-term focus on sustainability and user adoption.

Lessons Learned

Outsource strategically to maintain product control. By designing the tool in-house and outsourcing only the engineering work, Boston was able to create a product that matched its specific workflows and service needs quickly and inexpensively. This approach gave staff more control and made it easier to train users, troubleshoot issues, and adapt the tool for future uses. The result was a system that staff understood well and felt invested in using and maintaining.

Soft launches reduce risk and improve adoption. Rolling out the tool gradually using a “test and learn” approach allowed the team to see the system in real-world conditions before releasing it citywide. Staff and vendors had time to identify bugs, verify that the system worked as expected, and make improvements based on feedback. This phased approach also gave internal users a chance to become comfortable with the tool, which helped build confidence and support across departments.

Shared buy-in accelerates delivery. A major reason the project moved quickly was strong alignment across departments and teams. From the beginning, stakeholders from Public Works, 311, the Digital Service team, and vendor partners were engaged and informed. This early coordination reduced confusion, clarified responsibilities, and kept the project focused. When all participants understood the goals and the steps needed to achieve outcomes, the team was able to move from planning to launch in just six weeks.