How to get rid of a mattress in Flagstaff, AZ.

Companies that come to your home and carry the mattress out, so you need no vehicle. The prices below are starting prices unless stated — stairs, box springs and extra items add to them.

Most charities will not take a used mattress. These are the ones we checked, including the ones that say no.

• The Salvation Army (satruck.org): accepted-items list includes 'Mattresses' and beds; also says local ordinances and need vary by location and to call 1-800-SA-TRUCK to confirm what a local center accepts. Source
• Doesn’t take mattresses. Habitat for Humanity national ReStore guide: 'Mattresses and box springs are not accepted.' Source

Policies vary by branch. Call before you carry one over — we asked each of the big three directly: Goodwill, the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity.

What we established about this city in particular — including where it runs nothing of its own and residents have to look elsewhere.

• Flagstaff City Code Chapter 7-04 sets the rules a resident is actually held to. "BULK WASTE" is defined in § 7-04-001-0003 as "Wood, household discards such as furniture, rugs, and other large items, large pieces of metal, tree limbs, bagged yard rakings or trimmings, or other similar material except putrescible food items and dead animals". Section 7-04-001-0007(A) permits bulk waste at the curb - "No person shall store or place any solid waste in any street, alley, sidewalk, utility corridor or other public place within the City... except if placed in containers authorized for collection. Bulk waste may be placed curbside for collection" - and subsection B declares "Any unauthorized accumulation of solid waste on any premises" a prohibited nuisance, with failure to remove within thirty days a violation. Section 7-04-001-0008(A)(3) governs residential bulk waste: collection "on a once every four (4) week rotating schedule", "A pile up to five (5) feet by five (5) feet by ten (10) feet of combined yard waste and bulk waste shall be collected", "A special collection for larger quantities requiring additional fees is available", placement "on private property within plain view as seen from the public right-of-way" and "no earlier than the Monday immediately preceding the designated collection week and no later than Monday at 5:00 a.m. of the designated collection week", "parallel to the street adjacent to the owner's property line", not on sidewalks or right-of-way where it obstructs, and "may not be placed within four (4) feet of any structure"; unacceptable materials are construction/repair/demolition waste, large auto parts, tires, used oil, and rocks, soil and concrete. Fees under § 7-04-001-0010(B)(1) make the monthly residential charge cover "weekly collection of the solid waste and recycling containers residential refuse collection service, and once every five (5) weeks bulk waste collections, weekly white goods collection, access to the landfill (except construction and demolition waste), and access to the hazardous products center" - the scheduled rate table runs $19.06 (2-1-2019) to $25.45 (1-3-2023). Section 7-04-001-0010(B)(4): "Special Collection Service: Special bulky waste collection will be provided upon request to residential and business customers for a fee equal to the cost for equipment, manpower, and landfill disposal, at a one-half (1/2) hour minimum rate." Enforcement is by notice of violation with thirty days to abate (twenty-four hours for a container left at the curb), recovery of the City's removal cost plus a five percent surcharge, and a lien; § 7-04-001-0014 also sets a $40.00 fine per occurrence for contamination of a recycling container. Source Not confirmed: The code's bulk-waste frequency does not match the city's current published schedule, and is not even internally consistent: § 7-04-001-0008(A)(3) says once every four weeks, § 7-04-001-0010(B)(1) says once every five weeks, and the Solid Waste Division's Bulk Trash page says once a quarter in five sections. The quarterly schedule is the operative one for a resident, but the discrepancy is unexplained. Not confirmed: The code's allowed pile is 5 x 5 x 10 feet where the current webpage says 5 x 5 x 5 feet; which governs is not stated. Not confirmed: The code does not name a mattress anywhere, so the webpage's exclusion of queen and king mattresses has no counterpart in the ordinance. Not confirmed: The special bulky waste collection fee is defined as cost-based with a half-hour minimum and no dollar figure is published. Not confirmed: The monthly residential rate table in the code ends at 1-3-2023, so the current monthly charge is not established from this source.
• Flagstaff is the rare city whose waste ordinance anticipates a university move-out. Section 7-04-001-0006(B) requires a materials management plan whose goal "is to ensure that new or expanded development is designed in a manner that allows for the efficient collection and storage of solid waste, glass, bulk waste, seasonal bulk waste related to student move-in and move-out, and including, but not limited to, recyclable materials". The plan is required "for all new nonresidential or multifamily development and any expansion of a nonresidential or multifamily development that constitutes a twenty-five percent (25%) increase in either the gross floor, seating capacity, or dwelling units", and is reviewed and approved with the site plan by the Director of Public Works, who "may approve the materials management plan as submitted, require modifications... or approve the materials management plan with additional requirements necessary for the safe and efficient collection of waste generated by the new or expanded development." In other words, the seasonal surge of mattresses and furniture around Northern Arizona University's move-out is a matter the city addresses through the design of apartment complexes, not through an extra public collection. Source Not confirmed: The code creates no extra public collection, voucher or drop-off for student move-out, and no city page we could read publishes a move-out bulky collection or mattress amnesty. Whether the city and NAU run a donation drive in any given year is not established from a city source.
• Not an option: Flagstaff's ReStore will not take a used mattress, and says so in writing, which saves the trip. Habitat for Humanity of Northern Arizona's Flagstaff ReStore, 2016 N Fourth St, Flagstaff, AZ 86004, open Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 5pm and closed most federal holidays, accepts "new and gently used furniture, large appliances, building tools and materials", but states: "Among the items we do not accept are mattresses, box springs, opened paint cans and various extra large items." The store also reserves the right of refusal on donations unsalable through disrepair, hazard or condition, including "pet dander, animal droppings, signs of bed bugs". This is the nearest ReStore for the whole of Coconino County, including Page. Source Not confirmed: The page describes new mattresses among goods the store sells while refusing used mattresses and box springs as donations; whether a genuinely unused, in-package mattress would be taken is not stated.
• There is no mattress recycler in Flagstaff and no mattress-specific program. The city's own "Where to Take Waste" page - the page whose whole job is to route each material to a destination - does not mention mattresses or box springs at all, and names no mattress recycler, take-back or diversion program; the city's ReThink Waste site is likewise silent on them. Arizona has no statewide mattress recycling program, so in Flagstaff a mattress is a landfill item: the Solid Waste Division's instruction for anything over 50 pounds, and for queen and king mattresses excluded from bulky week, is to take it to Cinder Lake Landfill. Source Not confirmed: Because the city's own routing page omits mattresses entirely, there is no published statement of what happens to a mattress delivered to Cinder Lake Landfill.

• New River county address is 41835 North New River Road, Phoenix 85087, while ADEQ lists 41835 N Lake Pleasant, Peoria 85382. Rainbow Valley county street number is 17795 versus ADEQ 17735. Cave Creek county city label differs from ADEQ Carefree. Source
• County receiving list includes 15 transfer stations plus Western Regional Landfill. It differs from ADEQ on Double Adobe direction (6996 N versus S Central Highway), Bowie ZIP (85643 versus 85605), Tombstone ZIP (85638 versus 85352), Sunsites city/ZIP and Bisbee road spelling (Tovreaville versus Torveaville). Source
• ADEQ Composting, Recycling & HHW FAQs (revised Oct. 28, 2025) read in full, including the collapsed accordion panels. No statewide mattress stewardship program, landfill ban or retailer take-back appears anywhere on the page. The resident recycling panel tells people to use the ADEQ eMap or to search "City of [where you live] recycling", and if the municipality offers nothing, to search "[County you live in] recycling" for a drop-off service. Mattress disposal in Arizona is handled by local governments. Source
• The statewide locator ADEQ links from its recycling pages is the "Arizona Recycling Locator" ArcGIS Experience app. Its own text says the app covers E-Waste, Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) and General Recycling in your community, and carries an ADEQ disclaimer that it cannot verify the listed items will be accepted at all locations and that residents should contact the facility. There is no mattress or bulky-item category among the three advertised layers. Source
• Mattress Recycling Council's Program States page names exactly four states where it operates recycling programs under enacted mattress recycling laws: California, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Oregon. Arizona is not among them, confirming there is no MRC-run mattress stewardship program or Bye Bye Mattress free drop-off network in Arizona. Source