How to get rid of a mattress in Lake Havasu City, 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.

• Lake Havasu City's ordinance on refuse is Chapter 8.04 (Garbage Collection and Disposal), and its definitions are the closest the code comes to naming a mattress. Section 8.04.010 defines "BULKY ITEMS" as "All lumber, iron pipe or debris exceeding 3 feet in length or 3 feet by 2 feet square or 2 feet in diameter, concrete blocks, and other such materials or equipment of a weighty or bulky nature such as refrigerators, deep freezes, ranges, bed springs, sofas, water heaters, water tanks, sinks and tree stumps" - bed springs are listed by name. "RESIDENTIAL SOLID WASTES" are defined as "Solid wastes generated in housing areas including yard trimmings but excluding bulky items", so a bed spring or mattress is outside ordinary residential collection as the code draws the line. The chapter runs from 8.04.010 through 8.04.170 and covers containment, wind-blown refuse, improper disposal, collection service, container requirements and placement, bundling of cuttings, bulky items, fees, penalty and unauthorized removal of trash. Source Not confirmed: The definition names "bed springs" but not a mattress as such, so whether the ordinance treats a mattress itself as a bulky item is not stated in terms.
• Lake Havasu City Code § 8.04.120 (BULKY ITEMS) states: "The regular collection service shall not remove items such as tires, crates, refrigerators, stoves, air-conditioners, sofas, chairs, auto parts, trees and other like items. The owner or occupant of any residence shall have these items removed at his or her own expense, either through negotiation with the contractor who makes regular collections or otherwise." Section 8.04.100 requires that "Brush, long stems of bushes, tree limbs and cuttings which cannot be placed in containers will be cut into 4-foot lengths and tied securely into bundles weighing not more than 60 pounds", and § 8.04.130 provides that refuse collection fees are set under Chapter 3.20 and billed on the same bill as water service, with service subject to discontinuation for non-payment. So the ordinance's baseline is that a resident arranges and pays for bulky removal themselves; the six no-charge bulk collections a year are a feature of the current city arrangement with Republic Services published on the city's Trash & Recycling page, not something the ordinance itself grants. Source Not confirmed: The ordinance (adopted by Ord. 82-67 in 1982) and the city's current published bulk-collection offer are not reconciled anywhere we could find: the code says bulky removal is at the resident's expense, the city page says six collections a year at no charge. Which governs in practice is not established.
• Lake Havasu City Code § 8.04.050 (IMPROPER DISPOSAL): "It is unlawful to dispose of any garbage, refuse or ashes anywhere in the city excepting in a properly designated and approved sanitary landfill." Section 8.04.030 makes it unlawful "to cause or permit to accumulate any dust, ashes or trash of such a material that it can be blown away by the wind anywhere in the city excepting in a tightly covered container", and § 8.04.040 makes it unlawful "to deposit or permit to fall from any vehicle any garbage, refuse or ashes on any public street or alley in the city" - which is the provision that bites on an unsecured mattress in a pickup bed. Section 8.04.060 provides that "The collection of refuse from individual residences which receive water services from the city will be by a contractor hired by the city" and that "The collection shall be made from all premises at least once each week". Section 8.04.090 requires receptacles to be placed "at the alley for regular collection service where the premises have access to an alley", otherwise "at the curb in front of the premises, or at such point as the contractor designates". Source Not confirmed: The code sets no set-out time window for placing containers or bulky items at the curb; the only timing published anywhere is the city page's instruction to set out the night before, since collection starts at 5 am.
• Lake Havasu City Code § 8.04.160 (VIOLATION - PENALTY): "Any person violating this chapter shall be fined not less than $5 nor more than $200 for each offense, and a separate offense is committed on each day during which a violation occurs or continues." Section 8.04.170 adds that it is unlawful for anyone not authorized by the city's licensed refuse contractor "to collect, scavenge, or disturb the residential or commercial solid waste or refuse stored in cans, containers, bins or any other refuse receptacle", and subsection B extends the same prohibition to "any non-containerized refuse or recyclable material set out for collection" - so taking a mattress that a neighbor has set out for the bulk collection is itself an offense. Source
• There is no mattress-specific answer in Lake Havasu City. The city's Trash & Recycling page - the only place the city publishes disposal options - carries headings for carts, collection days, large bulk items, the holiday schedule, recycling, the landfill and household hazardous materials, and names no mattress recycler, no mattress take-back and no mattress collection event. Arizona runs no statewide mattress recycling program, so a Lake Havasu City mattress goes either on one of the six bulk collections or over the scale at the Chenoweth Road landfill. Source Not confirmed: Whether mattresses taken to the Lake Havasu City landfill are landfilled or diverted is not published anywhere.

• 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