How to Get Rid of an Old Mattress in Salt Lake City

The One Rule To Know

Why You Cannot Just Dumpster It

Mattresses are kept out of most Utah dumpsters on purpose. They take up an enormous amount of space, and the coils and foam wrap around the machinery that sorts and compacts trash at transfer stations. Because of that, a lot of haulers and bins simply will not accept a loose mattress, and tossing one in a rented dumpster can get it flagged or cost you an extra fee.

The good news is that a mattress is one of the most recyclable big items in your house. Almost all of it, the steel springs, the foam, the wood frame, and the fabric, can be pulled apart and reused. That is why recycling is the route most people end up taking. Here are your options, from most eco-friendly to most convenient.

Recycle It at Spring Back Utah

Spring Back Utah is the region's mattress recycler, and it is the cleanest way to get rid of one. They take the mattress apart down to the raw materials so the steel, foam, wood, and fabric get reused instead of buried. It runs about $60 for home pickup or about $20 if you drop it off yourself. Prices and hours can change, so check their current details before you load up.

This is the option to reach for first if the mattress is worn out but you still want it handled responsibly, which is exactly the case for most mattresses headed out the door.

Use a Free Call2Haul Pickup

If you live inside Salt Lake City, you get 2 free bulk-waste pickups a year through the city's Call2Haul program, and a mattress is a fair thing to put on that list. You schedule it with the city, set the item out on your assigned day, and they collect it. It costs nothing, which is hard to beat.

The tradeoffs are that it is for city residents only, you have to wait for the scheduled pickup rather than getting it gone today, and it uses one of your two annual slots. If you can plan ahead and you have not burned both pickups, it is a solid free choice.

Donate It (Only If It Is Clean and Undamaged)

A mattress in genuinely good shape can sometimes be donated, but the bar is high. It needs to be clean, with no stains, no rips, no serious sagging, and absolutely no sign of bedbugs. Many donation centers decline used mattresses outright for health reasons, so this is a call-ahead situation every time. Ask before you drive it over.

If your mattress is stained, saggy, or years past its prime, be honest with yourself and skip donation. Recycling or a haul-away is the respectful move, and it saves a charity the cost of throwing out something they cannot use.

Or Have It Hauled Away

When you do not have a truck, cannot wrestle a queen mattress down the stairs, or you are clearing out more than just the bed, a junk removal crew is the simple answer. They carry it out from wherever it sits and route it to the right place, so you are not making trips or lifting anything.

At Jay's Local Junk Removal, mattresses and box springs are $40 each, and they are cheapest when they ride along with other items you are already having hauled. A single mattress on its own falls under our $100 job minimum, so it is most cost-effective bundled with a bigger load. You can see how we handle it on our mattress removal page.