Mattress Disposal: What to Do with Your Old Mattress When You Get a New One

You may be ecstatic to get a new mattress, but the moment the new mattress is set up on your bed frame, you may be facing a new challenge: what to do with your old mattress. Don’t worry — there are a lot of options. Here are some of our best suggestions for mattress disposal.

Dispose of the Mattress

Send the mattress to the landfill. If your mattress is in extremely poor condition or has suffered from bed bugs or other damaging conditions, your best bet is to throw it away. None of us like contributing to landfills any more than we have to, but if your mattress has been plagued with anything from bed bugs to cat urine to fleas from your dog, do your health a favor and replace it — and do the health of others a favor by disposing of it completely.

If you leave it curb side for your garbage collector to pick up, call the garbage collection service to make arrangements beforehand. Many trucks may not be equipped to haul away mattresses, and you don’t want to be stuck with a mattress on your sidewalk for another week. Some garbage collection services may charge an extra fee for picking up oversized items such as mattresses.

Donate or Give Away the Mattress

Donate your mattress to someone in need. Plenty of organizations are happy to accept your gently used, unstained mattresses, and they can make sure it is given to someone in need. Check with local charities, shelters, veteran’s organizations, domestic violence prevention centers, and churches.

Or, contact foster care agencies to find out if any of their fostering homes need mattress donations. One advantage of donating to a nonprofit group is that you may ask for a receipt. Keep it with your taxes to use as a tax write-off next year. Plus, you’ll have the good feeling of having helped someone else in need. If you need some good places to start, try your local Salvation Army or Red Cross.

Other than donating the mattress to a non-profit organization, you can donate it to someone locally using social media. Post your mattress on Facebook and note that you have a mattress in need of a good home. Make sure to include details such as its size and condition, including wear and tear or stains.

Thrift or consignment stores accept a variety of house wares and home goods, and when an item is sold, the consignor gets a percentage of the price. Call around to your local consignment shops and find out if they take mattresses, and if so, what the buyer’s cut is.

Hire a Haul-Away Service

Ask your mattress salesperson about haul-away services. Many mattress stores offer a low cost, or sometimes even free, haul-away service as a perk for buying from them. It may not be well advertised, so you’ll want to inquire about this before purchasing so that when your new mattress is picked up or delivered, you can put the old mattress in their hands right away.

Recycle the Mattress

Get involved in Buy Nothing Projects. These fiscally-conscious and budget-conscious projects are positive social operatives, and you can use Facebook to get involved. Start here and link up to your local group.

The advantage of participating in a Buy Nothing Project is that items are freely shared, given, lent, or borrowed, saving participants money and investment in either items too expensive to purchase for one time use (such as that special swirly Bundt pan you need for your child’s school bake sale) or on larger items, such as mattresses, that single income families may desperately need. These Buy Nothing Projects are uplifting and encouraging, and they can save YOU some money, too!

Additionally, mattress recycling facilities are somewhat of a niche, so it may seem daunting at first trying to figure out where you can take it for recycling. Don’t worry, though! Here are a couple of great websites that can help you determine your closest mattress recycling plant:

• Bye-Bye Mattress. This planet-friendly organization can help you find the best place for mattress recycling. Just enter your zip code and use the handy on-screen map to see your closest locations.
• Earth 911. This website has a lot of helpful recycling advice and tips — and they also have a search engine to help you find your nearest mattress recycling plant. Best of all, they also have mattress recycling FAQs, so if you’re wondering about what to do with an old waterbed or box springs or anything else, they can answer.

Thankfully, you have a lot of options in front of you when it comes to mattress disposal and figuring out what to do with the new one. Whether you donate it to a worthy charity or nonprofit, recycle it, or any of our other options above, you don’t have to feel stuck. And now that you have these options in front of you, you don’t have to drag your feet any longer on investing in a new mattress. Contact Gardner Mattress today if you’re ready to go out with the old and in with the new.