How to get rid of a mattress in Show Low, 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.

• Show Low's regular free excess-trash collection explicitly refuses mattresses. "The City also offers free excess trash collection services six times a year. This service is available to all City of Show Low refuse customers and is provided by Waste Management on your regular scheduled collection day. Available dates are May 11 to 15, July 13 to 17, September 7 to 11, and November 2 to 6 (excess trash weeks are moved to the next week when any service day falls on an observed holiday)." The rules: "Excess trash must be bagged, boxed, or bundled; is limited to everyday household items; should not exceed 50 pounds per single item; and is limited to the equivalent of one pickup load (4x4x8 feet) or about 20 bags", and "Items must be placed at the curbside no earlier than the night before pick up or by 6 a.m. the day of pickup." The exclusion is by name: "Items that are not accepted include: Furniture, mattresses, refrigerators, freezers". So a Show Low resident cannot put a mattress out on an excess-trash week, and the city says so in its own words. Source Not confirmed: The 2026 Clean Sweep flyer names four excess-trash weeks while also saying the service runs six times a year; the two remaining weeks are shown only as black boxes on the WM calendar and are not listed as dates in the text.
• The City of Show Low's 2026 WM service guidelines set out how ordinary and excess collection work. "Both trash and recycling is collected weekly"; carts go "at the curb by 7 a.m. -- wheels facing the curb", "at least 3 feet from other objects such as cars, mailboxes, trees and other carts", with lids fully closed, and "Do not leave any materials next to or on top of your cart. Excess materials will not be collected." For the six excess pickups: "Excess cannot be placed on curbside longer than a week before the scheduled pick-up date. Place excess trash items at the curb before 7 a.m. on your collection day. Items MUST be bagged, boxed or bundled and are limited to normal household items. Total volume (per household/per pickup) is limited to an 4' x 8' area and 4' tall (about 20 bags). Item weight cannot exceed 50lbs per item. Tree limbs must be bundled and cannot exceed 4' in length or 50 pounds per bundle. Items NOT accepted in excess trash include: commercial waste, construction debris, excessive yard waste, hazardous waste, appliances, furniture and tires. No small engines or equipment with small motors." Holidays observed by the local WM team are New Year's Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, with service delayed a day for the rest of that week. Furniture is also on the list of materials not accepted in curbside recycling. Source Not confirmed: The WM calendar's excess-trash exclusion list names furniture but not mattresses; the explicit mattress exclusion appears only in the city's Clean Sweep flyer.
• For one week a year Show Low residents may tip at the Lone Pine Transfer Station free of charge, and this is the only published price of any kind for that site. "Lone Pine Transfer Station - Non Green Waste or Bulky Items. Monday, June 1st through Saturday, June 6th. Take your items (and proof of residency) to the Lone Pine Transfer Station north of Show Low, west of SR 77 on Lone Pine Dam Road, and dump them at no charge. Participation in this free event is on Monday, June 1st through Saturday, June 6th from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (closed 12:00 noon to 12:30 p.m.)." The limits: "Materials from construction sites or commercial debris will be charged standard rates", and "under no circumstances will the transfer station accept: Hazardous materials, automobile batteries, tires with or without rims". The city's separate free green-waste drop-off that month is at a different address, the Public Works green waste area at 2100 N 16th Street, and takes only pine needles, tree limbs, wood products, grass clippings and organic materials. Source Not confirmed: Mattresses are not named in the Lone Pine free-week wording either as accepted or refused; only hazardous materials, automobile batteries and tires are excluded. Not confirmed: The "standard rates" the city refers to for commercial and construction loads are not published by the city, and WM publishes no gate rate for the Lone Pine Transfer Station, so what a mattress costs there outside the free week is still not established.
• Show Low City Code Chapter 7.10 makes refuse service compulsory and sets the set-out rules. Section 7.10.060: "No owner, tenant, lessee, occupant or other person in possession of any building within the city shall avoid or refuse to accept the garbage and trash disposal service provided for in this chapter. Avoidance or refusal of service shall not exempt such person from the payment of the charges for such service." Section 7.10.020 reserves collection to "The city, or other collectors authorized by the city". Section 7.10.070(B) authorizes the excess-collection program: "The city, on its own or through its refuse collection agency, may provide and schedule excess collection services to its consumers. Items for collection shall be limited to normal household items and shall not include commercial waste, construction rubbish and debris or excessive quantities of residential waste", with excess garbage and trash "placed in sealed bags or tied in bundles", no loaded bag or bundle over fifty pounds and bundles no longer than four feet. Section 7.10.070(B)(3) covers large items only as "Appliances and Vehicles": the city or its agency "may collect discarded appliances and abandoned vehicles from dwelling premises as scheduled from time to time by the city. The consumer shall remove or cause to be removed all other appliances, vehicles, or equipment classed as refuse from their premises or the public right-of-way." Section 7.10.080 sets placement and timing: refuse goes "outside the consumer's property line and at the edge of the street at least four (4) feet from any obstacle in any direction", "no earlier than 6:00 p.m. the day before it is to be picked up", and "Refuse containers shall be taken from the city streets before midnight of the day upon which the refuse is picked up." Section 7.10.140 makes dumping unlawful: "It is unlawful for any person to dump, deposit, place, throw or leave refuse, rubbish, debris, filthy or odoriferous objects, substances or other trash upon any public or private property within the city or to dispose of any such items at a site other than a landfill or other disposal site designated by the city council." Source Not confirmed: Chapter 7.10 nowhere names mattresses, furniture or bulky items as a class; the only large-item provision is for appliances and vehicles. Not confirmed: The chapter contains no apartment, multi-family or HOA provision, so whether a flat dweller in Show Low has the same excess and bulky entitlement as a house is not established.
• The penalty Show Low attaches to illegal dumping is a civil one, per day. Section 7.10.140 makes a person who dumps refuse on public or private property "guilty of a civil violation punishable as provided in Section 1.25.010(A)", and Section 1.25.010(A) reads: "Except for those acts or omissions to act specifically declared to be a misdemeanor, whenever in this Code any act or omission to act is declared to be prohibited, unlawful, an infraction, a violation or an offense, such act or omission to act shall constitute a civil violation pursuant to A.R.S. Section 9-500.21 and a civil penalty up to the maximum amount specified in A.R.S. Section 9-240 may be imposed for ordinance violations for each day a violation exists... In the alternative to civil violation prosecution, the city may elect to enforce the provisions of this Code by any action available at law or equity." Source Not confirmed: The code states no dollar figure of its own: the ceiling is whatever A.R.S. Section 9-240 allows, and that statute was not read.

• 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