How to Get Rid of an Old Mattress (Sell, Donate, or Dispose)

Figuring out how to get rid of a mattress is one of those chores that looks simple until you are actually standing there with a 90-pound queen folded against the wall and no plan. Here is the short version: you have four real options, and they range from getting paid to paying a hauler around $75 to $200. Americans throw out roughly 18 million mattresses a year, and most of them go straight to a landfill where they take up a brutal amount of space and take decades to break down. You can usually do better than that.

I help people move and sell big, awkward household stuff for a living. Mattresses, sofas, hot tubs, the things that do not fit in a car and that nobody wants to carry down three flights. I have seen how this goes both ways: the person who spends a weekend and a hundred bucks getting rid of a mattress that was actually worth selling, and the person who flips a barely-used one for real money. So let me walk you through every option, what each one costs, and how to pick the right one for the mattress you actually have.

How to get rid of a mattress: your four options at a glance

There are exactly four ways to get rid of a mattress, and the right one depends almost entirely on its condition. A clean, newish mattress can be sold or donated. A stained, sagging, or old one needs to be recycled or hauled. Match the method to the mattress and you save both money and a lot of hassle.

Method	Best for	What it costs you	Effort
Sell it	Clean, under ~7 years, no major sag	You make money	Medium
Donate it	Clean, gently used, no stains	Free, possible tax receipt	Low to medium
Recycle it	Old or worn but not soaked or moldy	$0 to $40	Medium
Haul or dispose	Stained, broken, infested, or unsellable	$75 to $200	Low

Most people default straight to “haul it away” because it feels easiest. Sometimes that is right. But if the mattress is in decent shape, you are throwing away money. Let me break down each path.

Option 1: Sell your used mattress

A clean mattress less than about seven years old is worth real money on the resale market, often 20 to 40 percent of what you paid. People shop for used mattresses constantly, especially for guest rooms, kids’ rooms, and first apartments. If yours has no stains, no sagging, and no odor, selling is the option that actually puts cash in your pocket instead of pulling it out.

Honesty matters here more than with almost anything else you sell. Buyers are rightly cautious about used mattresses, so good photos and a straight description do the heavy lifting. Show the tag with the manufacture date. Note the size, the firmness, and how long you owned it. If you are not sure what to ask, I wrote a full method in how to price used items to sell, but a fair rule is to start around a third of the original price for something three to five years old and adjust from there.

Clean it before you photograph it. A vacuum, a spot treatment, and an hour of airing out can move a mattress from “no thanks” to “sold.” I put the full routine in how to clean a mattress before selling, and it is worth the effort, because a clean presentation is the single biggest difference between a fast sale and a listing that sits.

The catch with selling a mattress yourself is the same catch as selling any big item: the logistics and the strangers. You either deliver it or you have a buyer come to your home, and a mattress will not fit in most cars. That is exactly the friction we will come back to at the end.

Option 2: Donate it to someone who needs it

If the mattress is clean and you would rather see it used than sold, donation is a good path, and you may get a tax-deductible receipt for it. Plenty of organizations take gently used mattresses: furniture banks, shelters, charities that furnish homes for families leaving hard situations. The key word is clean. No stains, no sagging, no smell. Most charities cannot accept a mattress with visible staining, and none will take one with any sign of bed bugs.

Call ahead before you load anything up. Donation rules vary a lot by location and by organization, and some have paused mattress intake entirely for hygiene reasons. Many will arrange a pickup for larger items, which solves the transport problem for free. Habitat for Humanity ReStores, local furniture banks, and shelters are the usual starting points. Ask two questions: do you accept mattresses right now, and do you offer pickup.

Option 3: Recycle the mattress

A mattress that is too worn to sell or donate is not automatically landfill material. Mattresses are about 75 percent recyclable. The steel springs, the foam, the wood frame, and the cotton can all be separated and reused. Recycling keeps a bulky item out of the landfill, and in a lot of places it is cheap or free.

Where you can recycle depends on where you live. A few states run dedicated mattress recycling programs funded by a small fee you already paid at purchase, and those let you drop off or schedule pickup at no extra cost. Elsewhere, check your municipal waste authority, local recycling centers, or search the Mattress Recycling Council’s directory. Fees, when they exist, usually run from free to about $40. It is more effort than tossing it on the curb, but it is the responsible middle ground when the mattress is past selling but not disgusting.

Option 4: Haul it away or dispose of it

Some mattresses are simply done. Soaked, moldy, infested, broken down to the springs. When that is the case, disposal is the honest answer, and you have a few ways to do it.

1. Municipal bulk pickup. Many cities collect large items on a schedule or by appointment, sometimes free, sometimes for a small fee. Call your sanitation department and ask about bulk or oversized pickup rules. You usually need to wrap the mattress in plastic and put it out on a specific day.
2. Junk removal service. The pay-someone-else option. A crew comes, carries it out, and hauls it off, typically for $75 to $200 depending on your area and how many items you have. Worth it if you physically cannot move it or have no truck.
3. Landfill or transfer station drop-off. If you have a truck, you can haul it to a transfer station yourself. Tipping fees are usually modest. Call first to confirm they accept mattresses, because some now charge extra or require recycling instead.
4. Retailer haul-away. If you are getting rid of the mattress because you bought a new one, ask the retailer. Many will remove your old mattress for free or a small fee when they deliver the new one. This is the easiest path if the timing lines up.

One thing to never do: do not just leave a mattress on the curb and hope. Illegal dumping carries real fines in most places, and an abandoned mattress in the rain becomes a soggy biohazard fast. If you are going the disposal route, wrap it and use a legitimate channel.

How to tell if your mattress is worth selling

Before you decide, give the mattress an honest inspection. This five-point check tells you which of the four paths fits.

1. Age. Under seven years is sellable. Over ten, lean toward recycle or dispose.
2. Stains. Any visible staining knocks out donation and most sales. Light surface marks can sometimes be cleaned; deep set-in stains cannot.
3. Sag. Press the middle and the edges. A noticeable dip or a broken-down edge means it is past its comfortable life.
4. Smell. Odor is an instant disqualifier for buyers and charities. Air it out and re-check before deciding.
5. Pests. Any sign of bed bugs means it goes straight to disposal, wrapped and sealed. No exceptions. Never try to sell or donate an infested mattress.

If it passes the first four and has no pests, sell it or donate it. If it fails on age or sag but is clean, recycle it. If it fails on stains, smell, or pests, dispose of it properly.

The hard part: actually moving the mattress

Here is the thing nobody mentions when they tell you to “just sell it.” A mattress is the single most awkward thing in your house to move. It flops, it is heavy, it does not fit in a sedan, and you cannot carry a king down a staircase alone. This is the reason so many sellable mattresses end up at the curb. The selling part is easy. The hauling part is what stops people.

That logistics wall is exactly what we built Commonplace to handle for big items. Instead of you renting a truck, wrangling a friend, and meeting a stranger, you list the mattress and a vetted driver handles the pickup and delivery. The buyer gets time to inspect it before any money changes hands, and you never have to stand in your driveway doing the handoff yourself. You can see how the whole thing works on our how it works page.

And if your worry about selling is the usual one, the no-shows and the scammers, that is fair. I wrote a whole guide on whether Facebook Marketplace is safe for exactly this reason. The short version: it is fine for cheap, easy-to-carry stuff, but for something big and bulky like a mattress, a managed pickup takes the stranger and the heavy lifting out of the equation entirely.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get rid of a mattress for free?

Often, yes. Donation is free and may earn you a tax receipt if the mattress is clean. Many retailers haul away your old mattress free when they deliver a new one. Some cities offer free bulk pickup. And in states with mattress recycling programs, drop-off is free because the fee was paid at purchase. Paying a junk hauler is the option you only need when none of those fit.

How much does it cost to dispose of a mattress?

It ranges from free to about $200. Curbside bulk pickup is often free or a small fee. Recycling runs from free to roughly $40. A junk removal service typically charges $75 to $200 depending on your location and how much you are hauling. Selling or donating a mattress in good shape costs nothing and can make you money.

Can you sell a used mattress?

Yes, if it is clean, under about seven years old, and free of stains, sagging, and odor. Used mattresses sell well for guest rooms and first apartments, often at 20 to 40 percent of the original price. Honest photos, the manufacture tag, and a good cleaning are what separate a fast sale from a listing that sits.

What should I do with a mattress that has bed bugs?

Dispose of it, and only dispose of it. Wrap it fully in plastic, seal it, label it clearly so no one else takes it, and use proper disposal or bulk pickup. Never donate or sell an infested mattress. Most areas have specific rules for disposing of infested items, so call your sanitation department first.

Is it illegal to leave a mattress on the curb?

In most places, yes, unless it is a scheduled bulk pickup day and you have followed the rules, which often include wrapping it in plastic. Illegal dumping carries fines. Always confirm your city’s bulk-item process before you set anything out.

So, how to get rid of a mattress comes down to one honest look at its condition. Clean and recent? Sell it or donate it and come out ahead. Worn but intact? Recycle it. Stained, broken, or infested? Wrap it and dispose of it the right way. The only mistake is defaulting to “pay someone to haul it” on a mattress that was actually worth selling.

If yours is in good enough shape to sell but the idea of moving it is what is stopping you, that is the part we take off your plate. List it with Commonplace, let a driver handle the pickup and delivery, and skip the truck rental and the driveway handoff entirely. The mattress finds a new home, you get paid, and you never have to carry it down the stairs.